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OK, I understand that quite a few of you will have read chapters 1-5, so simply skip to 6 and 7, (which are still plenty of material.) Plus there's an illustration of a scene in chapter 3 that you won't have seen, and 1-5 have had a few more tweaks as well as a good read-through, it should have a nice 'n' easy flow.
As for new people to this series, you might want to print this off, there's enough for a very enjoyable bedtime read or two (unless you'd prefer to read it here 'cause you'd rather do other things in bed, fine with me.) I'll say sorry in advance if I'm 'blowing my own trumpet', but I spent a lot of time writing this story, and I'm pretty sure you'll find it a damn good read! Honest!>


"Marines, this is Cortana, we will enter normal space in two hours, please sit up, cough, clear your tracheas of the bronchial surfactant and swallow."

      Sergeant Johnson coughed and spluttered as he bent over in the cryo tube and felt the chilled mist flowing from the tube wash around him, he looked down at his toes until they came into focus. The whole cryo room echoed with coughs followed by the sound of mucus being spat onto the cold cryo room floor,
"They might have been awake for a few seconds but they're as disobedient a bunch of bastards as they've ever been." The Sergeant thought to himself with a brief smirk.
Sergeant Johnson swallowed the fluid. At a time like this he couldn't afford to waste anything, no matter if it tasted like snot. He awkwardly climbed out of the tube and tried to stand straight, but couldn't help but sway. He was a rugged, well built man. His skin was dark brown and his jaw was square with broad cheekbones. He may have been 42, but he hadn't let his physique go in the slightest, he was as fit and muscular as he'd been 20 years ago. His eyes, however, looked out of place in his stone-chiselled face. They were full of emotion, strained with the pain and suffering of watching his men die and entire worlds being glassed.
He surveyed Fire Team Charlie; the Marines were clumsily climbing out of the tubes and regaining their balance.
"Urgh, give me a bunk any day" growled Private O'Brian, shooting a resentful glare at the cryo tube he'd just stepped out of.
"Alright you grunts, you heard the lady," the Sergeant addressed the marines, straightening, "we're two hours from our arrival point, the fly boys probably know as much as we do about what the situation will be like when we get there but we ARE GONNA BE WASHED, DRESSED, ARMED AND LETHAL IN THIRTY MINUTES! DO YOU UNDERSTAND MARINES!?" the Sergeant bellowed.
"SIR, YES SIR!!" the Marines cried in unison.

      The Marines piled into the armoury and started to load up. Spirits rose now the Marines were gripping assault rifles in their hands and had pistols in their holsters. Even the Sergeant found it hard to suppress his satisfaction, if he had a gun he was at his most deadly, if he was at his most deadly he would inflict maximum damage on the enemy, if he inflicted the maximum damage on his enemy he would die knowing he had fought to the best of his ability.
"Oh Jesus! I wish there was a Covenant bastard right here now, I swear I'd blow his legs off and kick his ass with 'em!!" cried Private Barclay.
"Enjoy it now Barclay 'cause you ain't gonna have the chance to be cocky when they get here" Private Jenkins shouted from the opposite side of the room.
"Let them all come, man, I'll tear them to pieces!!" He shouted back with a confident grin.
"He might as well be cocky," thought the Sergeant, "it's either that or give up."
"This is Captain Keyes." came the ship comm, "All Fire Team Leaders report to the bridge for briefing on the double!"
The Sergeant holstered his pistol and marched out through the automatic doors.
"Bring back some good news, Sir!" Someone called behind him as the door slid shut.

       "Right gentlemen," began the Captain, addressing the fifteen or so Fire Team Leaders "We know that the Covenant are tracking us, and if they aren't waiting for us when we enter normal space, they will be soon enough. They're following us because we are an easy opportunity for them to gain information, I don't think I need to tell you the consequences if they get hold of the ships AI; Cortana."
"Actually Captain, I'm not the Pillar of Autumn's designated AI. Operating the Pillar of Autumn is not my primary function" Cortana, corrected smartly.
"Thank you Cortana" said Captain Keyes, with a hint of strained patience in his voice.
"So, I believe we can expect the Covenant to attempt to board, and we're going to need the marines to repel borders long enough for ops personnel and Cortana to get off this ship, it's as simple as that. Questions?"
Sergeant Daux stepped forward, "Permission to speak freely sir?"
"Granted"
"Can't you see that getting that AI off is not going to change anything? And that's provided someone can actually get it off the ship! The Covenant will get it sooner or later, whether you get it off the ship or not. Why? Why try to get it off the ship? Just destroy it, that'll ensure the bastards won't get it." Sergeant Daux put his hand through his closely cropped hair in bewilderment and waited for the answer.
Captain Keyes took out his pipe and examined it for a moment before answering the Sergeant.
"Sergeant, you may or may not know that Cortana was designed with the purpose of breaking into the databanks of a captured Covenant ship and discovering the Covenant home world, so that we may try to get onto it and capture it's leaders."
Sergeant Daux listened.
"Now with the fall of Reach, humanity's options are few, Cortana may be the human race's last chance." Said Captain Keyes grimly.
"But Sir!" Protested Sergeant Daux desperately "That's just nonsense! Who could possibly pull off something like that?"
"The same person who will get Cortana off the Pillar of Autumn, Sergeant, the last remaining soldier from the SPARTAN II project - the Master Chief."
"Of course" Sergeant Johnson thought to himself, he'd clean forgotten the Master Chief was onboard somewhere. Sergeant Johnson had escaped from an orbital space dock orbiting around Reach with the great armour-clad Supersoldier, along with Private Jenkins, Bisenti and O'Brian just before Reach was destroyed. The SPARTANS were legends in the UNSC, surely if there was one human who could pull off such an insane mission, it was the Master Chief.
"Sir," began Corporal Davies, "the Master Chief would be a huge aid in repelling the ship's borders..."
"I'm sorry Corporal, the Master Chief is too important to risk getting into any more battles than he has to. He is still in the freezer, and will remain there where he is safe until the very moment we need him. Then we shall get him out, but he will have to take Cortana and get straight off the ship and that's all I'm afraid."
"Sir" Cortana announced, "we will be arriving in normal space in 20 minutes"
"Alright men, this is it, get your marines ready and prepare to repel borders!" ordered the Captain
"Yes sir!" the Fire Team Leaders saluted and marched off.

      In the hangars in the upper back of the Pillar of Autumn marines scrambled to and fro, loading up Pelicans with ammunition and equipment and preparing vehicles for transportation. The Captain had issued the order to abandon ship. Ops personnel were being loaded onto Pelicans to be evacuated, (the escape pods were reserved for the marines repelling borders and remaining Ops personnel who wouldn't have time to get to the hangar to escape on Pelicans.)
Sergeant Johnson had gotten a message that the bridge officers had found a ring structure of unknown origin when they had entered normal space. Apparently it was earth-similar and hospitable for them to land on.
The Sergeant had had trouble trying to form a mental picture of what they were talking about, but it didn't really matter .Whatever the hell it was and why it was hospitable the Sergeant didn't know and neither did he give a shit, that was way back in his mind. The point was that once the Captain gave the order that the Marines could evacuate, his men had something to land on.
"Think of us while your asses are safe in there, huh guys?" Private Bisenti called to some Ops personnel who were strapping themselves in to the seats of a Pelican.
There was enough time before the vacuum door sealed shut to see their ashamed faces.
"came Cortana's voice.
"YOU HEARD THE LADY! MOVE LIKE YOU GOT A PURPOSE!! Bellowed the Sergeant, his marines may have been a wily, but they snapped right into order when the Sergeant raised his grinding voice.
They scrambled and formed two perfectly straight lines facing each other.
The atmosphere was electric now. The Sergeant could feel adrenaline rushing through his body. Every fiber of his being was alert and ready. His heart felt like it was trying to thump it's way out of his chest. His trigger finger was ready to clench at the first sight of a four-jawed face or the glint of a gas mask.
"This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill."
"So back to this shit again" thought the Sergeant "how many men do I have to watch die this time?"
"ONCE AGAIN IT IS OUR JOB TO FINISH WHAT THE FLY BOYS STARTED. WE ARE LEAVING THIS SHIP PLATOON, AND ENGAGING THE ENEMY ON SOLID GROUND. WHEN WE MEET THE ENEMY, WE WILL RIP THEIR SKULLS FROM THEIR SPINES, AND TOSS 'EM AWAY LAUGHING!!!

... AM I RIGHT MARINES?"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!!"



Part 2

"Covenant boarding party on deck 6, breach in supply silo 2, combat team Charlie prepare to engage enemy," came Cortana on the com.
Fire Team Charlie piled into the hangar shaft lift. The lift chimed and they were speeding down to deck 6.
"MARINES! THREE TO A SIDE OF THE BLAST DOORS!! BISENTI AND I TAKE THE POINT AS SOON AS WE REACH DECK 6!!" The Sergeant barked. Bisenti was the fastest of the team and had the best reflexes, if there was Covenant behind the level 6 blast door, his reactions might save his life... for a few moments.
They had only seconds before the lift was level with the deck 6 blast door. Bisenti, Barclay and Jenkins took the right of the broad, gauss-floored lift, O'Brian and Mendoza took the left with the Sergeant. They were now level with the blast door, which was already hissing open. The Sergeant signalled to Bisenti and counted down on his fingers-
three,
two,
one...
The Sergeant and Bisenti swung around the sides of the blast door and trained their guns at the corridor ahead. They waited.
Nothing yet.
Nothing.
The Sergeant took in a small breath and beckoned the marines forward. They expanded in an arrowhead formation into the chamber at the start of the corridor.
"Bisenti" grunted the Sergeant " get in front of me and take the point."
He addressed the whole team,
"The corridor ahead takes a left, stick hard to the left side of the corridor with your heads down."
They followed along the wall in single file with their left shoulders to the wall.
Bisenti looked around the corner and signalled it was clear.
They all came forward.
The corridor continued and at it's end it split off in two directions.
The Sergeant raised his hand open in the air and waved it forward. The Marines obeyed the hand signal and went three to a wall, and with there assault rifles ready they advanced.
When they reached the end of the corridors, again it was he and Bisenti who would check the corridors branching left and right ahead, the Sergeant would check the left, Bisenti the right.
The Sergeant once again counted off on his fingers.
Three,
two,
one...
The Sergeant leaned around the corner and there, about four metres from him was a Covenant Elite in Blue armour. It spotted him and let out a gargling, guttural roar, levelled it's plasma rifle and fired a volley of sizzling plasma at the Sergeant's face that was peering out from around the corner.
Instead of pulling back around the corner for cover the Sergeant rolled forward into the Elite's corridor, feeling the crackling hot air of the shots that he'd just rolled under. He let out his own angry roar and fired his assault rifle at the creature's head and chest. Bisenti had also swung round and was opening fire. The other Marines crawled into the corridor with their heads down and let rip with their guns too. The Elite tried to back peddle down the corridor as a hail of bullets cracked at it's shields and were deflected at odd angles. It fired off it's gun, trying to fight back, but it's aim was too put off by the slamming bullets. It had backed more than halfway down the corridor when it's shields gave out and the hail of bullets began to slam into his head and chest. The Elite's body spasmed with the impacts of the bullets for a few moments before it hit the floor with a choked gargle.
It's purple blood was spattered on the walls and oozing from the dead body.
"One down, fifty billion to go" remarked Jenkins.
Then there came the sound of hooves from the end of the corridor where the Elite's corpse lay.
"Get ready Boys!" cried O'Brian.
From around the corner came a pair of Jackals with their energy shields raised and plasma pistols levelled, nearly fully charged.
The Marines opened fire again, but their assault rifles were running out of ammo, and the bullets just deflected of the Jackals' energy shields harmlessly.
The Jackals unleashed their two charged shots; one caught O'Brian squarely in the chest and the other just missed Bisentis' head. The marines scrambled around the corner of the corridor they'd just come out of and reloaded.
They could hear the Jackals' hooves steadily advancing towards them.
O'Brian's chest plate had nearly been completely melted away, but it saved his life, leaving only minor burns.
"We can't get past their shields Sir! Let's use grenades!" shouted Bisenti
"We can't use grenades this close!!" cried Jenkins.
The Sergeant remembered on the orbital space dock around Reach, the Master Chief had told him and his squad to concentrate on one Jackal at a time.
"Marines!! Concentrate all fire on the Jackal to the left, then the right!" The Sergeant barked,
"Okay... ready... NOW!!"
The whole team lunged forward from around the corner and let rip on the left Jackal's shield. The two Jackals guns were nearly fully charged again, but the left Jackal couldn't hold it's shield steady as it shook with the constant hammering of bullets. One shot caught the Jackal right in the head and it was thrown backwards. As it fell it discharged it's gun and the shot hit it's companion right in the back, sending fried, thick, dark blue blood into a coating on the inner side of it's translucent energy shield.
"Oh yeah, we're bad ass!" growled Barclay
"Damn straight!" agreed Hackett.
"Okay Marines, we're gonna deal death to all the Covenant bastards we meet in the same way we did just there! AM I RIGHT MARINES!?" The Sergeant shouted, pleased. This was a great moral booster for him and his squad, killing a pair of Jackals and an Elite and coming out unscathed.
"SIR, YES SIR!!" they cried in chorus.

The Marines continued to equipment silo 2, sure enough, the hull had been blasted through.
The Sergeant had a look inside the Covenant boarding pod that had sealed itself airtight to the breach in the hull.
It was chromed and smooth, with iridescent purples and blues. And it had symbols like Chinese calligraphy in places, very ornate and captivating.
It had quite an organic feel to it, none of the hard angles like the Pillar of Autumn had, smoothed curves everywhere.
"So this is what the inside of the Covenant ships look like?" he thought. The Sergeant felt a slight guilt when he realised that he was appreciating it as beautiful.
"Snap out of it!" He thought to himself "These bastards are cold-blooded mass murderers who carpet bomb whole planets without remorse, they're evil!"
"Sir?"
Sergeant Johnson snapped awake again. It was Mendoza.
"What is it Son?" he asked,
"Sir we've checked the area, the Covenant must have moved onwards to the lower decks" Mendoza reported.
"If they are headed down, they must be trying to block the escape pods. Where's the nearest Fire Team to stop them?" The Sergeant asked.
Mendoza called to Jenkins, who was wearing a helmet with an HUD reticule.
"Where's the nearest Fire Team on the lower decks?" Mendoza asked.
Jenkins fingered three buttons on the front rim of his helmet for a moment, then his eyes rapidly darted back and fourth, scanning his reticule.
"Fire Team Sierra is posted on deck 2, Sir," he said, still scanning the reticule.
"...anddd... there's Fire Team Foxtrot and Echo that have been posted on deck 4. You might also want to know that there have been six Covenant boarding parties that have connected already, and four of them are heading down towards the escape pods."
" The escape pods are on deck 2 aren't they?" the Sergeant asked.
"Yes sir." Hackett replied
"Hackett, Jenkins get everyone back here, I think we can make it a lot harder for the Covenant to take the escape pods."
"SIR, YES SIR!" They cried.

"Right Grunts," the Sergeant addressed the marines, "We know that the Covenant are headed for the escape pods on deck 2 to try and prevent us from getting off the ship." There are four boarding parties heading down from this deck and deck 5. There are three Fire Teams already posted who stand in their way at the moment. The Covenant will try to take hold of the escape pods stop anyone getting down to them.
We are going to take the shaft lift to deck 1 and surprise attack them from behind while they're trying hold off those coming from above. DO YOU UNDERSTAND MARINES!?"
"SIR, YES SIR!!"
"THEN LET'S GO SMASH SOME COVENANT SKULLS!!" Roared the Sergeant.

The lift chimed as they reached deck 1 and the blast doors opened.
The Marines proceeded, Bisenti taking the point and Jenkins directing them with the HUD reticule on his helmet.
"There's a heavy supply and equipment staircase very close to escape pod stations 1 and 3 that we can use to sneak up behind the Covenant." Jenkins whispered.
"We have a problem, 1 and 3 are on opposite sides of the ship" moaned O'Brian "There aren't enough of us to secure both 1 and 3, and if we assault one first, we'll have lost the element of surprise."
"One secured pod station is better than none, it'll mean the Fire Teams trying to fight their way down from above have an easier time." Said the Sergeant, "Marines, we're going to assault station 1"
"Shhhhut up!" hissed Bisenti as they approached the equipment staircase and got ever closer to the escape pod stations.
The heavy supply and equipment staircase was broad and open in the middle of a large, cross-braced, octagonal room. There was a landing going all the way around the square set of stairs on the second floor.
"Bisenti" The Sergeant muttered, "get up there and check it out"
Bisenti nodded silently and crept, keeping, his head low, up the broad metal stairs. The team watched him as he scanned carefully the whole landing above him as he crept. When he reached the top he signalled for them to follow. The Sergeant led them up the staircase. He was halfway up when Bisenti cried out in surprise and leapt down the stairs to where the Sergeant was, just in time to dodge a volley of plasma fire. Bisenti then ran straight into the Sergeant, knocking him out of the way of a hail of razor-sharp crystal shards and plasma and off the staircase onto the floor below. They rolled and ended up sprawled on top of one another next to the wall.
"Sarge," Bisenti said as he helped him up, "please stop sending me as the point!"
The Sergeant shoved Bisenti,
"SHUT UP AND HELP YOUR TEAM MATES MARINE!!!" He shouted angrily.
"YES SIR!"
"SIR!" cried Barclay" "THEY'RE ON THE LANDING ABOVE US, THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!"
"FOR FUCKS SAKE MARINE" the Sergeant cried back while popping up from his cover and firing a burst of bullets at a Grunt "DON'T YOU THINK I'VE NOTICED!?!"
A Grunt threw a plasma grenade down at the Sergeant. The Sergeant rolled backwards as the grenade bounced where he would have been, settled and detonated. A blast of intense heat scorched the Sergeant's body and he felt blisters bubble all over his chest.
"I'LL TEACH YOU TO THROW THAT CRAP AT ME YOU FURRY LITTLE SHIT!!!" He screamed in utter rage.
He charged forward and fired his assault rifle at the crouching Grunt that had thrown the grenade, he kept his finger on the trigger and kept the Grunt under a blaze of bullets and didn't stop until he saw the spray of methane erupt from it's mangled life support mask.
That was one down but there were more up there, and plasma grenades continued to compliment the rain of plasma and needles that were coming down on them.
"OH SHIT, THE BURN!!!" came an agonised cry through gritted teeth from one of his men, "SHIT!! SHIT! SHIT!!!"
"They're gonna kill us" thought the Sergeant, "we can try to fight back but they're going to kill us and win just like they always do!!"
It was getting desperate, the Sergeant and his men continued to fire but they were at a disadvantage and couldn't turn the tide of the battle.
"This is hopeless," he thought, seeing his men scramble to get out of the blast of another grenade.
The Sergeant aimed his gun at the Grunt that had thrown the grenade and killed it instantly... but wait, his gun was out of ammo... there went another one! And another! Grunts being taken out with single shots. One of his Marines was a much better marksman than he thought. He turned to see where the pistol fire was coming from.
And when he saw who it was his spirits lifted, there, at the foot of the stairs, was that armour-clad Supersoldier, it was the Master Chief! He was firing the pistol without pausing, aiming perfectly and killing Grunts with single headshots. The Sergeant heard the Grunts cry out in terror and try to flee, to the anger of their Elite. The Master Chief then leapt up the whole staircase in 4 bounds, he was immensely heavy and powerful yet moved with an unexpectedly fluid and seamless grace. By the time he was at the top of the staircase his assault rifle was drawn and he was sprinting toward the Elite while hammering it with an unbroken stream of bullets, by the time he reached the Elite it's shields were down and it's chest was already peppered with bloody holes. The Elite stood there for that split second, dazed with pain, then the Master Chief's gun butt smashed into it's jaw.
The Sergeant saw the spray of purple blood and heard the sound of the Elite's jaws smash and was sure that whatever the Elite's face in that helmet had looked like before that blow it was nothing but mush now.
The Marines let out a triumphant cheer at hearing the Elite's dying cry. They hadn't even gotten to the top of the staircase when they heard the Chief's gun blaze again.
When they did reach the top they saw that the Chief had already smashed up another Elite through a broad blast door and was mowing down Grunts.
"Hey! Leave some for me!" one of the Marines laughed.
"This is fantastic, the Chief must be headed for an escape pod station to get Cortana off the ship, and is saving our butts in the process!" the Sergeant thought.

The Marines just followed the Master Chief, and if they couldn't see him they followed the sound of gunfire and Covenant corpses. They had followed him nearly all the way to life pod station 1.
Suddenly they heard O'Brian (who was following closest to the Chief) cry out around a corner that the Chief had gone past. When the Sergeant and the others caught up and found O'Brian, he was staring blankly at a closing blast door.
"Oh shit..." said Mendoza.
O'Brian turned to them, "He's on the other side!" he said, pale.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine on his own" reassured the Sergeant.
"I'm not worried about him I'm worried about us!" O'Brian said, "Not only are we on our own again but they're closing the blast doors and the life pods are on the other side!!"
"Actually I think the life pods are already gone guys!" called Jenkins who was looking out of one of the observation windows "the exterior doors are open, they must have closed the blast doors so Covenant boarding parties trying to get through the airlocks would be trapped. If we hurry, maybe there'll be a pod left in station 3 on the other side of the ship, come on!"
The Marines broke into a desperate run back where they came from and headed through the corridors to escape pod station 3.
Things were looking good, they hadn't met a single Covenant so far, but when they were nearly at the escape pod stations they readied their weapons, hearing the gunfire around the corner that they'd been expecting.
The Sergeant was almost relieved to hear the fighting, they had met no Covenant on their way to station 3, and he had been starting to think it was a trap.
"Mendoza, see what the situation is around the corner" the Sergeant ordered.
Mendoza leaned cautiously around the corner for a few moments and slowly turned back to face them.
"Three Technicians and three Marines, one of the Marines is injured, and there are several corpses. They're taking cover, they're trying to get into the last escape pod, but on the other side of the corridor are Covenant who are pinning them down with plasma fire."
"How many Covenant are there?" the Sergeant asked,
"It's hard to tell, they're hiding behind those stationary shield projectors." Mendoza replied,
"Give me an idea how many, boy!" The Sergeant hissed,
"Too many!" Mendoza hissed back.
"We've got no choice," the Sergeant said, "let's charge and see if we can't surprise them enough for us to get in the pod."
The Marines approved.
The Sergeant came to the front of the group and signalled with his hand...
three,
two,
one,
"CHEEEEEEAAARGE!!!!"
The Marines sprinted around the corner, roaring.
The Marines and Technicians as well as the Covenant stopped for a split second, then continued firing, more heated than ever, the Covenant now focusing their fire on the advancing humans.
The Sergeant ran and tried to fire his gun at the same time, but the recoil was too powerful for him to aim it properly while moving. The Marines realised they were going to die if they didn't take cover from the Covenant's maelstorm of fire.
The Sergeant leapt to hide in the indent of one of the escape pod airlock doors. He hit his head on the door, hard. His ears rang, but at least he was out of the line of fire.
He reloaded his rifle and looked at what was going on. There was a new corpse on the floor, it was face down, he recognised the hat it was wearing, Barclay was dead.
He could see Bisenti slumped against a crate, clutching his side, his clothes were stained with red. O'Brian was hiding behind an iron fortification shield just in front of the Sergeant, if he kept his head low he could get to him and there'd be virtually no risk of him being hit.
He leapt forwards and crouched next to O'Brian, who turned to face him.
"It's not looking good..." said the Sergeant grimly.
"And we're too far to reach them with grenades." Added O'Brian
"Son, I think we're just gonna have to run for it and take what we take" said the Seargent.
O'Brian seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, then suddenly he came back to the real world,
"Sir I think I have an idea," but he didn't look confident, "if you can get the guys to give me some cover."
"And what are you going to do?" the Sergeant asked with a piercing stare.
"Just trust me, Sir, give me some cover." insisted O'Brian.
The Sergeant looked at the Marine for a few seconds.
"Agh Hell, I hope you know what you're doing, boy!"
"Not in the slightest sir," O'Brian laughed nervously, getting ready to run as soon as he got some cover.
"MARINES!! RELOAD! ON THREE!!
THREE!
TWO!
ONE!!
The Marines and Techs opened fire at the Covenant at the end of the corridor, the Sergeant was pleased to see that the Covenant were suitably frightened enough of their synchronised efforts to get cover. He turned to see where O'Brian was headed. O'Brian was trying to pry open the open the gauss door of a maintenance access way
"Son of a bitch! That's why he wouldn't tell me, he's gonna get around the back of them using the access way and distract them long enough for us to get away, he's gonna get himself killed!"
A blast of plasma shot past his field of vision, leaving little dots of light on his eyes and letting him know the Covenant were firing again. He fired the rest of his clip at them, and another, and another.
He had just reloaded it with his last clip and was aiming when he saw; there at the end of the corridor, behind the Covenant, was O'Brian.
He had a grenade in his hand,
he had it above his head,
he was throwing it.
The Sergeant watched it land out of his sight among the Covenant Grunts, Jackals and Elites. The Covenant fire stopped as they all turned, hearing the clink of a grenade somewhere. Some leapt and scrambled away, while a few just stood, paralysed.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion sent bodies flying and erupted sprays of different kinds of blood.
"GET IN THE POD!" he cried, some of the Marines and Techs already had done once the fire had stopped.
The Sergeant ran forward and helped Bisenti up. Just as he was getting into the pod he heard what was left of the Covenant at the end of the corridor getting their revenge on O'Brian.
"Now you're a man," the Sergeant muttered quietly.

Bisenti sat down and strapped in and the Sergeant saw who was in the seat. It was one of the Techs.
"Can you fly this thing?" he asked
"I've done simulations but..." the Technician started
"JUST GET US OUT OF HERE TECH!!" The Sergeant barked.
The Sergeant strapped himself in to a seat next to another of the Technicians who was one seat from the far rear of the pod.
"So they weren't having me on," the Tech said to him, "They really are eight feet tall."
"What?" the Sergeant scowled
"The Elites really are eight feet tall," the Tech said again.
The Sergeant couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"TECH!! GET US THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!"
Everyone in the pod was savagely thrown sideways against their straps by the strength of the launch away from the ship.
"Whoa!" came an awe-struck voice from the pilot seat, "there it is... it's beautiful... and it's HUGE!"
The Sergeant couldn't see what the Tech was looking at properly, but he knew it was the ring he'd been briefly notified about in the hangar.
"OKAY" The Tech shouted "HOLD ON, I'VE NEVER DONE A SIMULATION OF LANDING ON ONE OF THESE THINGS!!"
The Sergeant looked out the window and saw what 'one of these things' was.
The Tech was right, it was beautiful, and really HUGE!
He could see a small peninsula sticking out in a great blue ocean that reflected the sun's rays, he could see mountains and clouds. It was all on the inside of this giant artificial ring, (the Sergeant assumed it must be artificial.)
It was breath-taking.
"What in sweet Jesus is it?" said one of the Marines who wasn't in the Sergeant's team.
"If we live long enough we might find out, Son!" He answered.
The escape pod began to shake violently as it entered the atmosphere, and the Sergeant felt his stomach shoot upwards as he felt the effects of the rings gravity.
Bisenti opposite him was still clutching his side, the shaking of the craft aggravated the pain, his face contorted with a grimace.
"Don't worry Bisenti, when we're on the ground I'll spray that full of Bio-foam and patch you up."
Bisenti smiled weakly and nodded.
"OH CRAP! OH CRAP!! OH CRAP!!!" screamed the Tech in the pilot seat.
"WHAT IT IS IT!?!" The Sergeant boomed over the sound of the shaking pod.
"HERE COMES THE GROUND!!" the Tech wailed "Uh... OK... Uh... Oh shit, OH SHIT!! I CAN'T FIND THE AIR BREAK!"
The Sergeant was by now so furious with the Tech's incompetence he just started laughing.
"Well then" he laughed "We're all gonna die!"
As if what he said clarified everything for the Tech the air brakes opened and the retro thrusters fired. The whole pod was now shaking and with such force it felt as if some giant monster had picked it up and was hurling it around above it's head.
The Sergeant could see a forest out of the entrance/exit window; it was getting closer, until it was so close he could see the trees moving in the slipstream of the pods speeding wake. For a split second he saw the forest end at a large ridge and a clearing before-

WHUUUUUUMPH!!!!!

"Sir, Sir wake up, we made it. SIR!!"
Everything slowly came into focus as the Sergeant looked around, he could see a blurred face right in front of him... it was Jenkins."
"We made it sir, we're on the ring, wait till you see it!"

Part 3

The Sergeant unstrapped himself from his seat and followed Jenkins out of the pod.
"WHOA!!" exclaimed the Sergeant.
"I know" agreed Jenkins.
The Sergeant followed the land, where the horizon should have been the land just continued up and up, getting further and further away until it was just a small band of land and ocean above their heads, and then in the opposite direction it came back down, getting closer and wider.
"Who the hell built this place?" the Sergeant said, more to himself than anyone.
"The Covenant?" Jenkins offered.
"Jesus Christ, I hope not..." replied the Sergeant, starting to survey the land around him, "the land reminds me of Earth... it even has the same strength of gravity."
"And nearly exactly the same atmosphere" added Jenkins.
"Have you investigated that structure?" the Sergeant said, indicating a large structure that looked more like some giant monument crafted from solid metal than a building.
"Mendoza and one of the other Marines we met on the Autumn are checking it out now, Sir."
"Have you met any life forms?"
"Nothing Sir, whoever built this thing doesn't seem to be here."
The structure suddenly flashed and sent out a pulse of what reminded the Sergeant of the Covenant ship's plasma fire, it shot up all the way into the sky, travelling to the other side of the ring.
"What the hell was that!?" the Sergeant asked,
"No idea Sir, but it keeps doing it, it doesn't seem to be meant to cause any harm."
"Where's Bisenti, he was wounded."
"One of the Techs is tending to him and the other injured Marine."
"Take me to him" the Sergeant ordered.

The Sergeant followed Jenkins to Bisenti and another injured Marine. They were sat in front of a boulder next to a large metal wall that was part of the structure, under the shade of the ledge above them.
"Sir!" Bisenti got up off the ground.
"You OK, son?" the Sergeant asked.
"I can fight sir" said Bisenti with a determined face.
"Good man" the Sergeant said with a proud twinkle in his eyes, having a hole burned into your intestines and still being willing to fight was a sure sign of mettle.
The Sergeant turned to the other Marine.
"How about you?" he asked.
"I've taken a couple of those damn needles in my shoulder, they've blown some of the cartilage off my arm socket, the Tech pumped me full of painkillers, so I'm OK, but they're affecting my sight and reactions, I can fight, but I'm gonna be fighting like a pissed one-armed civilian." The Marine replied, he had an Australian accent.
"What's your name and rank Marine?" the Sergeant continued.
"Sir! Private Hackett, Sir! Fire Team Sierra!" The Marine said, saluting with his uninjured arm.
"I am your new commanding officer, Private, you will address me as Sergeant, you and your team mates are officially transferred to Fire Team Charlie!"
"Sir! Yes Sir!" Hackett saluted again.
The Sergeant turned to see Mendoza returning with another of the new Marines.
"Sir!" said Mendoza, "I see Jenkins managed to wake you up from your beauty sleep!"
The Sergeant gave him a 'don't-push-me' glare.
"...uh...the structure is clear, Sir, it doesn't seem to have an entrance, I guess what's inside is the thing that's making that pulse." Mendoza reported quickly, "However it's a useful spot, plenty of cover and places to fire from, we've got the Techs emptying the weapons and supplies from the pod, they're taking it up to the ledge above us now.
The Sergeant acknowledged but didn't reply, instead he ignored Mendoza and turned to the other Marine.
The Marine straightened and saluted,
"Sir, private Kennedy, Sir! Fire Team Sierra" he shouted.
"Not any more Marine, now you're in Fire Team Charlie." The Sergeant said.
The Sergeant turned to face Jenkins,
"Have you called for evac? Is there any evac, even? I don't wants us to stay out here a second more than we have to, what's the status with command?" He asked.
"One of the Techs has managed to get a comm working, there is a group of Pelicans, Longsword Fighters and the Command Shuttle about 80 kilometres downspin. They're having trouble with Covenant air forces at the moment, but they'll get a dropship out here as soon as they can, Sir." Jenkins replied.
All of a sudden the Marines heard the roar of engines, they looked up to see a life pod with it's break thrusters firing and air breaks open. It was rocketing through the air above them, leaving a dense grey trail of exhaust. They watched it shoot down behind a rock face crowned with evergreen trees.
"SHE'S COMING IN TOO FAST!" Kennedy shouted.
They heard it's rockets go off into the distance and then they felt the ground beneath their feet tremble slightly and heard a distant
>!!!>
"Shit! That must have struck the ground pretty damn hard..." Whispered Mendoza.
"Shouldn't we go and see if anyone survived?" asked Hackett.
"No one could have survived an impact like tha-" the Sergeant began, but he was cut off.
"COVENANT DROPSHIP INBOUND!!!" Screamed one of the Techs from above them on the ledge.
"MARINES" The Sergeant roared "LOCK AND LOAD, LET'S SET THE TABLE FOR THESE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!"

"GO! GO! GO!!" The Sergeant roared, beckoning the Marines up the slope on the side of the structure to the open ledge above them.
The Sergeant glanced to see the Covenant dropship coming down near the life pod. The plasma turret on it's underside turned to aim at him. He sprinted up the ramp, hearing the repeated discharge of the turret and the fizzle of scorching plasma hit the structure wall just behind him.
"RUN SARGE, RUN!!!" shouted Mendoza on the ledge above him, firing his rifle at the dropship in a futile attempt to distract it. The Sergeant lunged forward behind the cover of a wall at the top of the ramp that was in between him and the turret. He heard the plasma impact against the solid metal wall with an angry hiss.
Keeping his head low he walked up the rest of the ramp right in front of him to the landing where the rest of them were. They were all hidden behind what could only be described as broad metal barricades that were about a metre high, they served very well as battlements, which was probably what they were.
"The dropship doors are opening Sir!" shouted Hackett, peering through a gap around the battlement he was behind.
"Everyone get some grenades before that dropship takes off and we have to get cover from it's turret again!!" the Sergeant ordered.
Everyone, including the Techs, scrambled for the small spread of ammunition they had placed on the floor.
"AND SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE THESE TECHS SOME WEAPONS!!"
The Sergeant cried, handing the Technician who'd been in the pilot seat his pistol.
"HERE COME THE COVENANT!!" Someone shouted.
The Sergeant chanced a look over the battlement. A blue-armoured Elite charged with a squad of seven Grunts towards the structure, they were too far to reach with grenades, and the Sergeant wanted them to be as far as possible.
"TRIGGERS DOWN MEN!!!"
The Marines emerged from their hiding places and rained merry hell down on the advancing Covenant.
Because of the distance and the recoil of their guns, the bullets were inaccurate and sprayed all around the Covenant in a spread firestorm.
The Sergeant kept his finger down and watched the bullets rain down on the creatures. Sending up clods of Earth all around them and making the ground they stood on look like it was boiling.
The Grunts shrieked and jumped on their feet on the spot in a panic-induced dance. The Elite flickered brilliant silver as a few bullets bounced off it's body force-field.
The Grunts ran for cover. Three Grunts were already sprawled dead on the ground, and the Sergeant could see bright blue methane leaking from the life support pack of another one that was headed for a tree. That one would be dead soon too. The Elite, however did not run for cover. The Marines' guns were still firing, but their accuracy was poor because of the recoil and distance, and the Elite had realised this.
It put it's claw to it's waist and drew a plasma grenade. It pulled it's arm back and grunted as it put it's whole weight behind it's hurl. The Sergeant watched the ball of blue flame rise into the air, about sixty feet, the creature was a powerful thrower. It arced and came down towards the ledge. It was coming in to land right in between Bisenti and a Tech, and the Sergeant was sure that that was exactly where the Elite had wanted it. Apparently the Elite was a very accurate thrower too.
Bisenti turned on the spot and ran from the deadly, fizzling threat of the plasma grenade.
The Tech however, did not, he stood there paralysed with fear for a moment, and then in an incredible demonstration of bravery, the Tech tried to kick the plasma grenade back down at the Covenant. However he also demonstrated he had no idea about the awful ability that the Covenant grenades had - they seemed to know when they were touching something that was a target, and when they did they fused to that something, in this instance; the Tech's boot. He flailed his foot about in panic for half a second before it detonated, incinerating his legs and sending what remained of him crashing into the branches of a tree.
"WHOR HRUGH WRAAAAAAAGH!!!" The Sergeant heard the Elite roar from the ground below, he turned to see the Grunts who had regained their courage now there was a break in the human fire, charging for the ramp.
"REGAIN YOURSELVES MARINES!! LOAD AND FIRE!!"
It was impossible, the charging Grunts were firing their plasma pistols and needlers up at the ledge, forcing the Marines into cover.
"Wait a second..." The Sergeant said, "Where the hell's that Elite gone!?" The Sergeant turned around to see on the opposite side of the landing was the top of another ramp. It was leading down to the ground on the other side of the structure!
"Oh shit." The Sergeant said, "The bastard's sneakin' up behind us!"
The Sergeant sprinted to the other side of the landing.
"SARGE!!" shouted Jenkins.
The Sergeant ignored him and came to a stop on the part of the landing that was directly above the head of the ramp, if the Elite was coming up it wouldn't see him, but he would hear it."
Sure enough the Seargent could hear the loping, striding footsteps of the Elite sprinting up the ramp beneath him.
The Sergeant drew his grenade, unlatched the detonation latch with the same hand and crouched down. The loping footsteps were nearly right beneath him. Looking down on the top of the ramp the Sergeant saw the Elite emerge from beneath the obscurity of the ledge that the he stood on.
"Surprise" the Sergeant said quietly.
The Elite heard him and turned it's head up just in time to see the Sergeant directly above it before he dropped the grenade. The Sergeant leapt backwards, hearing the "clink!" of the grenade dropping at the Elite's feet and a great gargling roar that could only be a cry of terror.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
The Sergeant saw a plume of flame flare up from behind the edge of the landing above the ramp and heard the spray of blood spattering against a solid wall.
"Sir!" exclaimed Jenkins, running up to where the Sergeant lay and offering him a hand up off the floor, "The guys are dealing with the Grunts, they just turned tail and ran!"
"They must have heard what just happened to their leader" the Sergeant grunted.
"So that explosion was..." Jenkins began, peering down the ramp "Oh, I see."
"ANOTHER COVENANT DROPSHIP INBOUND!" Someone cried.
"MEN!!" The Sergeant shouted, running over to the Marines "LET'S SPREAD OUT ONTO THE GROUND BELOW. I DON'T WANT US ALL UP HERE. IT'S TOO EASY FOR THE BASTARDS TO SURROUND US! TECHS! YOU STAY UP HERE AND GIVE US SOME COVER FIRE!!"

But the Dropship passed straight over them and continued in the direction of the other life pod.
"If anyone did survive they aren't gonna be alive much longer!" said the last new Marine that the Sergeant didn't know the name of.
"And if no one did survive then they're gonna come and deal with us, let's be ready." Warned the Sergeant.

Two tense minutes later one of the Marines shouted,
"HERE COMES ANOTHER ONE!!"
The Marines aimed their guns up at the menacing, circling Covenant dropship, but stayed in the cover of trees and boulders (the turret was searching for targets.)
The dropship came to a stop and started to come into land on the opposite side of the structure to Fire Team Charlie's life pod.
"MARINES!! FRONT AND CENTRE!!"
As the dropship came down it's broad side doors swung down, and when it reached the ground the Covenant who'd been inside piled out - six Grunts and one Elite. The Sergeant aimed his rifle at the group of four Grunts who'd just jumped from the port dropship hatch when in the distance on a ridged hill beyond the dropship he saw an unmistakable figure. It landed from a huge jump onto a huge boulder about ten feet high and launched itself back into the air with puma-like grace.
The Sergeant saw the Master Chief draw a pistol in mid-air and open fire on the Grunts the Sergeant himself had been aiming at.
By the time the Chief had landed on the ground two of the Grunts were dead, and he continued to charge and fire the pistol.
In moments all four Grunts were motionless, heads punctured. The dropship took off and the Elite who'd come out of the opposite door to the Grunts saw the Chief and it's four dead soldiers.
The Master Chief ran behind a tree and the Elite growled and advanced with it's plasma rifle ready.
When the Elite was mere feet away the Chief emerged from behind the tree and charged towards the Covenant warrior. The Elite opened fire, but the Chief just kept running and then leapt right over the incoming plasma and over the Elite itself. He landed gracefully behind the Elite and with lightening speed span around and sent the butt of his gun slamming into it's face. The Elite's shields took the blow, but they were surely badly weakened. The Chief instantly levelled his gun at it's chest and opened fire. The force field flickered out and the Elite staggered back as bullets tore through it's chest, until finally it fell to the ground with an agonised groan.
The two remaining Grunts were fleeing, waving their arms in the air in panic, it was a strange thing - what sheer terror could do.
They ran right into the gunfire of Hackett and Mendoza, and were thrown back by the force of bullet impacts.
"Shit! I knew there was a Spartan on board, I KNEW IT!" said Kennedy in awe, who started to run to greet the Supersoldier. The Sergeant followed him.
The Master Chief had reloaded his assault rifle and pistol and was now taking plasma grenades from the Elite's corpse.
"Thank God, Master Chief" Kennedy said when he reached the hulking figure "I thought we were in real trouble."
The Sergeant stepped forward and proceeded to report the situation. "It's a mess , Sir, we're scattered all over this valley. We called for evac, but, until you showed up, I thought we were cooked."
The Sergeant looked into the gold visor of the Master Chief's helmet, but merely saw his own distorted reflection, it was unnerving. The reply however did not come from the Master Chief but from a woman's voice that he recognised as Cortana from the bridge. It surprised the Sergeant for the briefest of moments before he realised that, of course, the Chief had Cortana with him.
"Don't worry Sergeant, we'll stay here until evac arrives." She said calmly.
"HEADS UP! I GOT A COVENANT DROPSHIP HEADIN' IN, OVER HERE!!"
The Master Chief, however, had already started running to engage the incoming enemy the moment he'd heard the word, "dropship."
Kennedy was just about to follow the Chief who was headed around the right side of the structure when the Sergeant shouted after him,
"HOLD IT!"
Kennedy stopped and turned to face him, the Sergeant could see from his face that the Marine was itching to see the Chief in combat again.
"I don't think the Chief is going to need your 'help' Marine, you're coming with me to secure the right side of the structure." The Sergeant ordered.
The Marine was disappointed but understood that the Sergeant was absolutely right.
The two sprinted to enforce the other side of the structure.
The dropship had already touched down and unleashed it's load, and the Chief was already there perched on a smaller structure to the front of the large one. He was sending a dead accurate hail of pistol rounds down on a charging Elite. They cracked away at it's shields, until the field gave out. The stream of bullets however, did not pause, a pistol round blew right through the Elite's face and out the back of it's helmet, sending the contents down onto the ground. The Sergeant was watching the Chief dealing with a pair of Jackals when a familiar impish bark made him aware of three incoming Grunts. He and Kennedy fired bursts at the Grunts while trying to duck and cover from their plasma shots. They managed to get down and crouch behind a boulder unscathed, but could hear the trot of the advancing Grunts, who were spurred on by Kennedy and the Sergeant's retreat.
The three yapping Grunts were getting closer. The Sergeant had to act now or at least one of them would be killed by the trio, they were outnumbered.
He remembered how the Grunts on several occasions just fell apart and fled once frightened.
"Kennedy, give me a leg up over this boulder when I say!" He hissed.
Kennedy asked no questions and got ready.
"NOW!!"
Kennedy put his whole force under the Sergeant's foot and propelled him right over the boulder.
The Sergeant saw the Grunts jump back in fright at the sight of a roaring, flying human.

He landed two feet infront of them and fired his assault rifle into the gut of the middle Grunt before they had regained themselves. The other two however were under control again and had their guns pointed right at the Sergeant.
The Sergeant hesitated, but before he had decided what to do a blast of bullets from Kennedy behind the boulder blew through the Grunt's armour to his right.
The other Grunt turned in surprise and the Sergeant brought the butt of his gun smashing down brutally on it's skull. The thick strip of metal that was attached to it's gasmask and went along the front of it's face and over it's head prevented the blow from smashing the Grunt's head in, but the little simian was still concussed by the force. The Sergeant would have kicked the little monster to death had he not heard the call of a Marine on his comm:
"LOOK SHARP, COVENANT DROPSHIP ON APPROACH, I COULD USE SOME HELP OVER HERE!!"
The Sergeant looked up to see the dropship decelerating and coming to a stop right in his field of vision, about the same distance from the escape pod as the previous dropship had been in the opposite direction.
Another thing entered his field of vision, the Master Chief had his pistol and drawn and raised up at the craft as he charged from the direction of the previous dropship. The moment the dropship doors opened the Chief's gun fired, a grunt was tumbling out of the craft before it had even landed.
"KENNEDY! NOW LET'S GO GIVE THE CHIEF SOME HELP!!"
"YES SIR!!" cried Kennedy with open enthusiasm.
The pair ran between the cover of the huge bulbous-trunked evergreen trees to the dropship. The hatches were open, one door faced them, and the other faced the direction of the Chief. The door that faced the Sergeant and Kennedy now had four Grunts climbing out of it. The Sergeant and the Private leaned around the tree they hid behind and sent short bursts (too increase their accuracy) of bullets at the creatures, their shots missed however and just ricocheted into and off of the dropship interior, ringing in the Grunts ears and fully alerting them.
To the Sergeant's surprise they did not panic, they spotted the two soldiers, and realising they had superior numbers, charged, barking and howling.
That is until they heard a grenade explosion and the dying cry of their leader on the other side of the now rising dropship. The dropship took off from the small hill it had landed on, and up over the top of the hill came the unstoppable, relentless figure of the Master Chief.
With his rifle drawn he charged down the slope of the hill after the terrified and fleeing Grunts, mowing them down methodically and efficiently.
The Sergeant could see that the Chief took no pleasure in killing things.
Once the Chief had dealt with the Grunts he reloaded his gun and ran right past the Sergeant and Kennedy, without acknowledging them. The Sergeant's eyes followed the Chief until he saw the Covenant dropship the Spartan was running to engage.
"UH-OH! ANOTHER BANDIT DROPPIN IN BEHIND US! THEY'RE TRYIN' TO FLANK US!"
"Let's go sir!" called Kennedy, following the Chief.
The Sergeant reached for a clip on his belt... there were none.
"How are you doin' for ammo son?" The Sergeant called back to him.
Kennedy tapped his gun,
"This one's my last"
The Sergeant started to run, as he passed Kennedy he said,
"Let's get some more while we have the chance, we don't know how long we're gonna have to hold up here!"

From the top of the structure after they had replenished their ammo they simply watched from the edge of the building as the Chief finished off the newest Covenant forces.
The Sergeant watched the Chief punch through the life pack and spine of a fleeing Grunt , spraying his armour with methane and blood. It was good to see the Covenant having their asses kicked.
"Why didn't the UNSC make more of those guys?" a Tech said incredulously (the one Sergeant Johnson had sat next to in the life pod), who began to fire off his pistol at a Grunt fleeing into some trees.
The Sergeant remembered once seeing a UNSC specs operative who had suffered extreme Parkinson's disease and some mutated bone growth. He had wondered why the UNSC had decided to even accept such a disabled individual.
When he asked his superior he was told to watch where he stuck his nose.
However after a little digging he discovered the 'individual' had been a failed Spartan, and there were others. It seemed that the Spartans had gone through some risky bio-enhancement that had killed and badly disabled many of them. All the suffering the Chief must have gone through...
"They don't just crank them out on a factory line, boy! They're Human beings, Show some respect!" The Sergeant scolded.
The Tech shrank,
"Sorry, Sir. It's just..." The Tech froze, staring beyond the Sergeant, "OH SHIT, HERE COME TWO OF THEM!!"
The Sergeant turned. The two menacing dropships were coming in to circle them like birds of prey, the turrets searching. One of the turrets locked on their position, making them run from the open-to-fire edge of the landing to the cover of the middle. The Sergeant, Kennedy and the two Techs stayed under the cover of the monument-like structure above them, listening to the malevolent hum of the two ships.
The dropships were coming down to land (like others before them they were landing to the front of the structure near the crashed escape pod.)
"LET'S MOVE IT KENNEDY!!" the Sergeant barked.
As they came down the ramp they saw the Chief headed for the left dropship, the one that was closest to landing.
"MARINES!!" the Sergeant cried, addressing all those who could hear him, "THE CHIEF CAN HANDLE THAT DROPSHIP, LET'S TAKE THE ONE TO THE RIGHT!!"
The Marines acknowledged and ran to hide behind cover around the right dropship's LZ, ready to engage.
Over the throbbing hum of the Covenant ship they could hear the sound of the Chief mashing his way through his enemies off near the other dropship.
"MARINES, GET YOUR GUNS READY!!" the Sergeant bellowed.
The dropship was a metre from the ground.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!" cried Bisenti, hurling a grenade that settled in front of the craft's left door.
The doors opened, from the left side of the ship came three Jackals and an Elite.
They piled out, and unaware of the grenade, they walked straight over it.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
The grenade detonated a few feet behind them, the blast caught the Elite and one of the Jackals.
It sent the Jackal flying forward, but the Elite's body shields protected it from the blast.
The Marines emerged from their hiding places and fired.
But the Elite and remaining Jackals fought back quickly effectively, the Jackals instinctively raised their shields, in time to deflect the incoming bullets.
The Elite waved his hand imperiously and roared, ordering the Jackals forward. The two vulture-headed creatures advanced while firing their pistols, sending cover fire at the Marines who were leaning around boulders and rocks.
The Sergeant wasn't sure whether they had enough manpower to try a frontal assault, he needed to see what had come out of the other door...
The ship took off, revealing four Grunts, two red, two orange. The Elite roared again and the orange Grunts came forward to help the Jackals. They sent plasma in the Marines' directions, forcing them into cover and not giving much opportunity to retaliate.
"I'VE BEEN SAVING A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR YOU, YOU BASTARDS!!" cried Hackett, pulling his grenade from his belt.
However before he had a chance to pull the latch, the Sergeant saw the two red Grunts the Elite make a synchronised grenade toss, sending three plasma grenades right among the hidden Marines.
"They're flashing us out" thought the Sergeant.
Despite this he had already started to run, he'd rather take his chances with the Covenant plasma fire than with an exploding plasma grenade.
The Marines scrambled from their hiding places, running for the nearest safe cover.
The Sergeant ran for a tree, awaiting blasts of plasma to rip through his back.
He heard the Covenant fire their weapons... yet he was unharmed, he didn't even see shots that might have missed him. Then he heard human gunfire.
He stopped and looked over his shoulder.
The Master Chief was there, he had pulverised the Grunts and was advancing on the Elite and Jackals. He rolled under a volley of fire, and as he straightened up, the Sergeant saw he had drawn a grenade. The grenade was thrown behind the Jackals, who turned to shield themselves from the explosion, exposing their backs to the Chief. The Chief ducked under a weighty blow that the Elite had aimed at his head, and fired his rifle at the two exposed Jackals' backs.
The bullet impacts sent them toppling forward, only to be flung back by the sudden explosion of the grenade.
The Chief turned, to face the Elite, but the towering creature was already on him, it struck a skull-crushing blow to him with it's plasma rifle, the Chief's shields saved him from a messy end...only just.
The Chief was thrown to the floor.
The Elite levelled it's gun at the sprawled Chief.
"HEY, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" The Sergeant cried, firing his rifle, more to attract attention than to hit the Elite. "TAKE ME ON!! I'LL RIP YOUR THROAT OUT!!"
The Sergeant could have sworn the Elite had understood what he'd said, as it let out an enraged roar, and aimed it's rifle.
Before it had a chance to fire however, a plasma grenade hit it squarely in it's chest and stuck there. The Elite stopped and looked down at the grenade unbelievingly, before the explosion blew it backwards, staining the grass around it purple with blood.
The Master Chief rose from the ground, and reloaded his gun.
The Sergeant was going to see if the Chief was OK when an unexpected but welcome surprise piped through his comm.
"This is Pelican Echo 419, anybody readin' me? Repeat, any UNSC personnel respond!"
It was Foe Hammer!
"Roger Echo 419," Came a Marine's voice over the comm, "This is Fire Team Charlie, we read you five by five. That you Foe Hammer?"
"Roger Fire Team Charlie, good to hear from ya!"
"If you're not to busy Foe Hammer, we could use a lift, we have survivors to transport to the command shuttle."
Before a reply came the Sergeant heard the roar of more engines other than that of the circling Pelican.
The roar got louder until finally three more life pods emerged from beyond a ridge and continued downwards into the distance and out of sight again.
A woman's calm voice piped over the comm channel, the Sergeant realised it was Cortana,
"Foe Hammer, we need you to disengage your Warthog, the Master Chief and I are going to see if we can save some soldiers."
"Great," thought the Sergeant "with the Master Chief headed out the survivors will have a solid chance of getting back alive, and we'll have more men."
"Roger Cortana," came Foe Hammer over the comm "OK Charlie Team Warthog deployed. Saddle up and give 'em hell!"
"Roger Foe Hammer" replied Cortana "Stand by to evac survivors and transport them to safety."
"That's affirmative, Echo 419 staying on station. Foe Hammer out."

The Master Chief was headed for the Warthog, and the Marines and Techs headed for the Pelican, eager to get back to a friendly area. The Sergeant helped the Tech who'd piloted the pod, who'd taken a needle to his hip and was limping in quite serious pain.
Cortana's voice, however, came over the comm once more, addressing the Sergeant,
"The Master Chief and I need some back up, can you spare a few men?"
The Sergeant called over the Tech's shoulder,
"ALRIGHT LADIES, VOLUNTEERS STEP UP ON THE DOUBLE!!"
The Sergeant could see however that Kennedy was already running to get into the passenger seat of the Warthog, next to the Master Chief. The Sergeant grinned, the soldier's fascination with the Spartan was stronger than his fear of death.
"The rest of you get to the dropship!" he addressed the others.
Mendoza and Jenkins helped the Tech into the Pelican and into a seat.
The Sergeant climbed in and strapped into the seat right by the hatch.
The Pelican lurched forwards and upwards unpleasantly, the momentum made the injured Tech groan in pain, as the lurch moved his messed leg.
Mendoza, who sat next to the Tech, gave him a painkiller.
The Sergeant watched the ground below get smaller, he saw the trail of turned earth from the shrinking Warthog turn into a small band of brown against the rich green grass before they flew over a crest of trees and the clearing they had fought in disappeared.

The Pelican levelled and put on a powerful burst of speed , the engines roared powerfully, and the ground sped away below them.
The Sergeant walked to a comm on the rear wall and switched it on.
"HEY FOE HAMMER," he shouted over the noise of the engines "HOW LONG TILL WE REACH THE COMMAND SHUTTLE?"
"About ten minutes Sarge!" came the reply.
The Sergeant was about to take his seat again when he switched the comm back on,
"AND CAN YOU CLOSE THE GOD DAMN HATCH!!"
He got no reply but the hatch started to close, when it shut it muffled the sound of the roaring engines.
The Sergeant inserted a music chip into an audio player on his belt.
The inside of the Pelican was filled with the powerful sound of heavy metal, even more powerful than the Pelican's engines. To this Mendoza, Jenkins and Bisenti groaned, they hated it.
"Don't you think we've suffered enough!?" wailed Mendoza in mock hysteria.

Part 4




The Pelican hatch began to open, the Marines awoke from their dosing stupor that tended to be brought on by ten minutes of listening to the Sergeant's music.
"OK Charlie Team, we're here!" came Foe Hammer through the comm..
The Sergeant switched his audio player off and peered out of the Pelican down to see a few Longsword Fighters surrounding the Command Shuttle.
The Command Shuttle was a broad ship about one Longsword fighter wide and three long, and the shape sort of reminded the Sergeant of a Manta Ray, if a Manta Ray was a bit longer and swept back with hard angles. There were sensors and radar all over the front section of the ship before the very cramped bridge.
It had four archer missile pods and four 50mm gun emplacements, two facing forwards, attached to the swept back 'wings,' one below on it's belly and one on it's back.
It was nearly as well armoured as a battleship, 75cm of titanium-A battle plate in most places, a little less in others. The Command Shuttle's purpose was exactly what it was doing now; should the crew of a UNSC battleship have to abandon ship, the Command Shuttle would be the place where the orders and decisions would be made afterwards.
The Sergeant knew why there were no Pelicans on the ground, but one thing did confuse him,
"HEY FOE HAMMER, WHY HASN'T ANYONE EVEN STARTED TO SET UP CAMP?"
"We're running to a timer Sergeant," came Foe Hammer's voice, sounding grim, "It's estimated we've got 20 minutes before large amounts of Covenant enforcements get here, they know where we are, we have to get as many survivors out as we can before we have to take off and move on, I just hope the Master Chief is as incredible as I've heard. We can't afford to wait too long for the Covenant who're gonna be headed for the new lifepods to be neutralised so we can land."
"Where are the other Pelicans?" asked the Tech the Sergeant had sat next to in the life pod.
"They're either still incoming after escaping from the autumn, trying to rescue other lifepods, or destroyed," Foe Hammer replied briskly. "OK gentleman, kindly move your asses, I have other Marines to rescue."
The Marines helped out the injured Tech and felt the air around them blow and howl from the Pelican's airbrakes before it went up and engaged it's thrusters, flying back in the direction it had come from.
"RIGHT, MENDOSA! JENKINS! GET THIS TECH INTO THE SHUTTLE AND FIND HIM A MEDIC!!" The Sergeant yelled.
He turned to Bisenti and Hackett, who were also injured, "You too, boys, go on, DOUBLE TIME!!"
They nodded and followed Mendoza and Jenkins who were carrying the Tech.
The Sergeant then turned, there was the Tech who he'd sat next to on the life pod and the last Marine that the Sergeant didn't know. The Sergeant addressed the Marine
"Name and rank?" he said.
"SIR! PRIVATE MITCHELL, FIRE TEAM SIERRA!!"
"Fire Team Charlie now Son!" the Sergeant corrected him, "You stay here and keep guard, I think we're the first Marines to get back."
Then he turned to the Tech who straightened and saluted,
"Weatherly, Sir, Reactor Maintenance Technician, Sir!" he replied.
"You're coming with me, Tech. After I've seen the Captain I'll kit you up, I don't think we're gonna need a 'Reactor Maintenance Technician,' but we are going to need more soldiers." The Sergeant said.
He was pleased to see, however, that the Tech didn't flinch at being told he was going to have to be a soldier and fight.
The Sergeant saluted Mitchell, who returned his salute, and then he marched off to the Command Shuttle with the Tech following his stride.

The Sergeant walked up to the access ramp hatch of the Command Shuttle.
It was closed. He unlatched the vacuum cover for the control panel and keyed the 'door open' request button...
The door didn't open.
The Sergeant was about to bang on the hatch when a voice came through a comm. on the panel,
"State your emergency priority access password and ID code, please!"
The Sergeant scowled and shook his head angrily. What the hell was this idiot playing at, at a time like this?
He pressed the comm.
"Uh, yeah," he replied, "here's my access password: OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR BEFORE I SMASH IT THROUGH AND I BREAK YOUR FACE YOU LITTLE PUNK!!!"
There was a pause... then the door pistons whined and the ramp opened.
The Sergeant stormed in, utterly furious, he looked around for the one who'd been on the comm.
It was a Tech, stood at a small security control panel in the wall. The Tech recoiled in terror at the sight of the enraged Sergeant storming towards him.
The Sergeant backhanded him hard across the face.
The Tech clapped his hand against his struck cheekbone in shock.
The Sergeant then took the Tech by the scruff of his uniform, dragged him straight past Weatherly to the access hatch and flung the Tech down the ramp, who tumbled and landed heavily, crumpled on the ground outside.
The Sergeant went to the control panel and keyed the door shut. He then stood at the closing hatch and saw the Tech's horrified face.
"AND THAT'S MY ID CODE!!!" The Sergeant shouted before the hatch slammed shut.
Weatherly seemed both shocked and impressed as he followed the Sergeant out, who was grumbling about cocky punks getting power trips.

The Sergeant and Weatherly got to the 'bridge.' It was a small, cramped room about five feet wide and seven feet long towards the front of the Command Shuttle. It had four seats that faced control panels along the opposite seven foot walls, two seats to a wall. There was a door that lead beyond the cramped bridge to a two-pilot cockpit.
Ops Personnel manned the terminals, and there, in the centre of the little room was Sergeant Stacker.
He was white with a small, non-regulation goatee and a scar across his face.
Sergeant Stacker was not Sergeant Johnson's favourite character, in fact, the Sergeant thought that he was a hick and a bit of an idiot.
At seeing Sergeant Johnson, Stacker grinned,
"I saw what you did to that Tech, Johnson. You know, he was just following orders, the Shuttle was on alpha-1 alert and at full security! That was verbal and physical abuse to a fellow member of the UNSC, do you know the penalty is for that?" Stacker asked in imitated authority.
"I don't have time for this crap Stacker, where's the Captain?"
"Ah" said Stacker, his face fell, "I see you haven't heard. The Captain manually crash-landed the Autumn, he could be dead or captured by Covenant."
"Oh shit," Sergeant Johnson hissed angrily. He turned to the Ops Personnel who was monitoring the sensors, "Locate that ship and scan it for the captain's CNI transponder signal!"
"You know I'm not completely incompetent Johnson!" Said Stacker angrily "I've already got them looking"
Johnson turned angrily to Stacker, "But you ARE incompetent enough to not even post a guard outside!"
Sergeant Stacker threw out his chest,
"Hey! Look my men are tired, they've just seen their comrades dieing and they need to get a break and something to eat while they can!"
"Oh hell with it!" said the Sergeant "I came here to see the Captain and he's not here" The Sergeant turned his back to Stacker and walked past Weatherly to the exit,
"Come on Tech!" the Sergeant called, "let's kit you out!"

Sergeant had Weatherly in armour and was showing him how to reload an assault rifle in the small armoury when a Tech came nervously through the automatic door.
It was the Tech he'd thrown out of the hatch, he had a large bruise across his face.
"Sergeant Stacker trying to traumatise the Tech a little more I suppose" thought Sergeant Johnson to himself.
The Sergeant stared at the Tech and he jumped,
"uh... Sergeant S-Stacker ...aa... he t-told me to tell you th-that the Master Ch-chief was here with the last of the survivors, Sir! He requests you g-go to the bridge..." the Tech stuttered.
He seemed to be expecting the Sergeant to beat him again.
"Thank you Tech. Dismissed" the Sergeant said calmly.
The Tech breathed a small sigh of relief and made for the door.
"Oh, and Tech!" The Sergeant called to the Tech's back, who froze. "Sorry about the face."
The Tech waited a moment, then quickly walked off.
"Right Weatherly" the Sergeant said "I'll leave you to work out how to reload, just don't cause a hull breach."

As the Sergeant walked up the small ramp to the tiny little bridge he felt the Shuttle shudder and take off.
He walked through the small automatic door and entered.
Sergeant Stacker turned to face him.
"Sergeant, good news, the Chief did a great job, we got back a good number of survivors with only a few casualties!"
"Excellent" approved Sergeant Johnson.
"Also, Cortana's managed to locate Captain Keyes. He's alive!"
"Where?"
"A grounded Covenant cruiser, 'The Truth and Reconciliation.' Looks like we're not the only one's who like giving our battleships stupid names huh? Cortana disabled it before we abandoned ship 'pparently. So no risk of it getting away any time soon!"
"Good news, but we still need to get on board a Covenant cruiser and all of it's crew" said Sergeant Johnson pessimistically.
"...yes, well, I prefer to not think about that" said Sergeant Stacker, his enthusiasm punctured, "But anyway, we're headed over an ocean now, staying low of course. We're headed for a small set of islands to hide from the Covenant, when we get down we can decide what we're going to do."
"Sounds good" agreed the Sergeant.

The small fleet of Pelicans, Longswords and Command Shuttle flew perfectly level, 300 feet from the water. The sun began to disappear to behind the great gas giant.
Unlike on Earth, there were no shades of orange as the sun disappeared, due to the fact that the sun was not shining through a large part of atmosphere because of the shape of the ring.
Neither was there twilight, the rings spin just brought them into darkness.
The small fleet flew on.

"COME AND GET IT!!" cried Mendoza, who was stirring a huge vat full of staple UNSC stew, or 'Shit' as the Marines had come to call it.
"I don't care what it is, I could eat a Grunt!" cried one Marine.
Bisenti was in a bad mood, his intestines had just had a nasty operation so they could work again after being burnt through with plasma, he wasn't allowed to eat anything for 12 hours, so he went hungry.
Attention turned to the Master Chief as he took an especially large serving and sat down to eat.
Everyone fell quiet as he reached his hands up and undid a catch on his helmet.
He lifted.
In a simple movement the powerful, faceless and quite unnerving robot became a person.
Everyone couldn't help but stare.
The Master Chief had closely cropped, dark oak-brown hair, a strong jaw and cheekbones and a broad face. His face was more lined and he was older than some of them had envisioned, he looked about 40, though he was in a good state. His eyes were thoughtful and deep.
His eyes were looking around at everyone who was staring at him.
Everyone suddenly realised they were staring and awkwardly started to eat again.

Spirits were running high, they were safe, they had hidden the craft, set up camp and had all gotten good meals.
Now was the time for briefing.
Sergeant Johnson called everyone around the fire they'd set up and began.
"OK people, we've discovered that Captain Keyes is alive.
We know he's been taken by the Covenant, and we know where."
Our next objective is simple: Rescue Captain Keyes and any other UNSC personnel aboard the Covenant cruiser."
A murmur went through the group, as they turned and looked at one another.
One Marine raised his hand.
"Yes Marine?" the Sergeant asked.
"How?" the Marine said simply.
"Well," the Sergeant began matter-of-factly "We will take a Pelican, get in as close as we can, drop in a small squad with the Master Chief taking the point,"
The Master Chief (who stood head and shoulders above everyone else) nodded, his head concealed behind his helmet again.
The Sergeant continued, "Then we'll fight our way on board the ship, get to the Captain and get him out of there."
The group was silent, it was the stupidest mission they'd ever heard.
Then one Marine raised his hand.
"Yes Marine?" The Sergeant asked.
"Sir! I would like to volunteer for the mission, Sir!"
The Sergeant's face wrinkled with a smile as more hands started to rise,
"I'm in"
"Count me in too, Sir!"
"Yeah! I'm game!"
"Hell, why not? I'll go!"
"Just try an' stop me!"
The Sergeant raised his arms in the air and everyone fell silent.
"You make me proud Marines, but we can't afford all of you to go at once, we'll need a tight, point squad lead by the Master Chief that can get as close to the ship as possible without being detected. However no doubt we'll need some reinforcements on hand."
Sergeant Stacker cut in,
"I'll lead the reinforcements should we need them!"
Sergeant Johnson nodded,
"Now, we'll need five Marines to head the mission with the Chief. I'm not going to choose you, 'cause I don't know who most of you are. I'll leave it to you to decide who'll be going."
The group leapt into discussion;
"I've survived against larger numbers of Covenant before!"
"I've had intensive infiltration training!"
"I've done rescue missions before!"
"If you don't let me go I'll stow on board!"
They went on for several minutes before the argument descended into quiet decision, and finally everyone was silent.
"Have you decided?" The Sergeant asked,
The Marines acknowledged, and five of them stepped forward.
The Sergeant only recognised one of them, that was Private Mitchell, the man who he'd left on guard when they'd landed after being evac'ed by Foe Hammer.
"Good, I'm sure you are all content with the choice, but don't worry, we'll still need some of you on standby should the mission hit a hitch."
Some of the Marines faces brightened at hearing this.
"OK, that's all we have. I'm afraid there's no other intel we've got to help the mission.
Marines, all you'll have is your wits, the Master Chief and any intel Cortana can give you during the missions course."
The Marines acknowledged.
"You'll be leaving at 0500 hours, by the time you reach the objective it should be dark on that part of the ring and it'll make the mission that much easier. So get some shut-eye!"
The Marines all dispersed to prepare their sleeping bags.
As they did, only one of them noticed Seargent Johnson walking off.

The Sergeant sat on a rock on the beach, it was silent except for the rhythmical breath and sigh of the waves, which were much smaller on the ringworld due to it's smaller tides.
He looked up, following the path of the incredible structure up into the heavens above...
...heavens...
"Mind if I sit with you?"
The Sergeant jumped to his feet and jerked around,
"Whoa! Sorry Johnson, never seen you startled before!"
It was Stacker.
"You should be getting some sleep!" replied Johnson.
Stacker came and sat next to him,
"Nah, can't" he replied
"..." The Seargent just stared up at the ringworld.
"What're you thinking about?" Stacker asked, studying Johnson.
"My wife and kids"
"You got kids too, huh?" Stacker grinned, pleased he had found some similarity between himself and the stiff Johnson,
"I have three, love 'em all. That's why I'm here fighting in God knows where. Mine are on Earth, yours?"
The Sergeant kept looking up at the ring,
"Mine are dead."
Sergeant Stacker cursed himself silently for talking about family,
"I'm really sorry" Stacker began,
"So am I" said Johnson, "But now I fight for the other's families and loved ones..." the Sergeant turned to face Stacker, "...like yours."
Stacker nodded slowly and smiled.
Johnson put his finger in the sand and began to trace patterns,
"Do you ever wonder what's the point of it all, Stacker?"
"What do you mean?"
"Our constant fighting. Humanity throughout history has fought, peace is just the gap between suffering."
"Depends which way you could look at it, you could say that periods of war are just the gaps between peace."
"Yeah, but every human being is destined to suffer in some way. I will continue to fight, I'll fight to my death, but I can't help wonder if it's worth it if all it achieves is more death and bloodshed."
Stacker gave a short laugh, "I'd no idea there was such a soft side to you Johnson, ya great pansy. The way I see it you've just got to make do with what life hands you, and try to make the lives of those who come after you better. That's what keeps me goin'. The thought of my grandkids telling their children about great grandpa, who saved them and all humanity from the evil aliens, and fought on when all hope was lost. 'Cause ultimately Johnson that's what our suffering will become, just another period of hardship to add to humanity's history books. It'll become just another great story, and we'll be the heroes Johnson, we'll be the ones our descendants will talk about in quiet awe, we'll be the heroes."
Johnson started to look up at the ring, considering what Stacker had said. It seemed Stacker wasn't the hick he'd taken him for.
Stacker leaned forward and pulled a small liquid container from a ragged hole torn in the insulating lining of his boot.
He offered the container to Sergent Johnson,
"Here, you need summa this!" he said cheerily.
Johnson merely looked at it, before saying,
"I suppose I'm right in assuming that's not water," he growled, raising his eyebrows, "You know the penalty for carrying alcohol?"
"You didn't seem to be paying too much attention to penalties yourself when you threw that Tech out of the hatch, huh, Johnson?"
Johnson let out an irritated breath.
Stacker leaned forward,
"Look, you and I both risk our necks fighting for all humanity, don't you think the UNSC can forgive us for an awful breach of regulations just this once?"
Johnson just looked at Stacker, to which Stacker just shook his head in exasperation and said,
"Well I know that I may die in a few hours. I know that you can't fight for everyone's lives and not try to live your own. Because if you don't, well, then that's one life you failed to save. So bottoms up!"
He tilted the little container and took a big swig, threw forward and shook his head,
"ARGH, good stuff..."
The Sergeant looked at Stacker for a moment, then he reached forward and whipped the little container out of his hands.
He tilted the container and drank down all of the fiery liquid.
It scorched his throat like plasma, but it warmed his soul.
"You drank it all!!" exclaimed Stacker, in between anger, shock and amazement.
"Just to make sure there's no risk of you getting drunk on the mission Stacker, now get some sleep!"
Sergeant Stacker stared at Sergeant Johnson for a moment, considering him.
Then he grinned and saluted,
"Yessir!!"

Part 5

It had been dark for hours on their part of the ring, but darkness had only just started to come on the area of the ring that was their objective.
The five selected Marines who were to head the infiltration mission with the Master Chief, as well as Sergeant Stacker and the five backup Marines, were getting prepared for the mission (the Chief was armed already.)
Sergeant Johnson was starting to feel slightly dizzy. He handled alcohol well, but whatever had been in Stacker's drinks container he was sure had been distilled from jet fuel.
He didn't know exactly why he'd drank the whole container, perhaps there was a part of him that had really wanted it, even needed it. For whatever reason it was it was still completely out of character and a direct violation of UNSC protocols, unforgivable.
Sergeant Johnson dearly wanted to go and be the first in the Keyes rescue mission and fight alongside those other brave men. But he reminded himself that with Stacker and the Master Chief already going on the mission, he had to stay, they couldn't risk losing all their field commanders.
...Or at least that's what Johnson would have reminded himself, but he had taken in a lot of alcohol, and the restraint that he'd learned from the UNSC was depressed in his mind, and as far as he was concerned, nothing would stop him getting on that Pelican.

"OK gentlemen," said Lieutenant Shannae Houston, (a renowned pilot with quite a reputation, she'd turned down many promotions so she could remain a pilot in the field, the Marines nicknamed her Foe Hammer) "Get your carcasses on board and let's take back our Captain!"
The Marines cheered and followed, going through the hatch and strapping in.
Lieutenant Houston walked through the automatic, airtight access door from the drop-off hatch to the cockpit.
She got a little shock as she climbed in, however.
There, leaning against the pilot seat was Sergeant Johnson.
"Sir, what are you doing here?" Foe Hammer asked, trying to sound unsurprised.
"I'll be over-seeing the mission Lieutenant." He replied simply.
"With all due respect Sir I don't believe you said anything about this in the brief!" Foe Hammer protested.
"The mission will be unaffected by my presence, Houston, if anything it will be helped, if there's a problem I want to be on hand." Growled Sergeant Johnson dangerously, "Now kindly get this thing up in the air before I do so myself!"
Foe Hammer complied and got in the pilot seat, but there was definitely something off with the Sergeant, throughout the time she'd known him he'd never acted like this.
The Pelican took off, and after about ten minutes flight the Sergeant relaxed.
"Thank you Lieutenant" he said, and with that he turned around and keyed open the access hatch.

The Marines (two of whom were sat on the floor,) the Master Chief and Sergeant Stacker all turned their heads to the sound of the access door hissing open.
They were all, at first, confused at seeing Johnson (the Sergeant was sure behind the Chief's visor he was a bit confused too) when he was supposed to be back at the Command Shuttle.
There was an awkward moment before Sergeant Johnson announced,
"I'll be joining the first squad in the assault."
The Marines were even more confused at this unexpected and completely illogical announcement.
All that is, except Sergeant Stacker, he'd suddenly understood what was going on.
He unstrapped and got up,
"Come with me Johnson and let's talk in private" he said, nudging the Sergeant Johnson back through the access door.
"Hey Foe Hammer!" said Daux, trying to sound cheery and casual, "How long 'till our arrival point?" Foe Hammer craned her neck around the pilot seat and stared for a moment, still confused by the fact that Sergeant Johnson was onboard, before regaining herself.
"ETA in fifteen, Sir!" She replied.
"Great! Look Lieutenant do me a favour and put us on auto for a few minutes and give the Sarge and me some privacy!"
"Sir what's going..." began Foe Hammer.
"THAT'S AN ORDER LIEUTENANT!" Barked Stacker angrily.
Foe Hammer quickly unstrapped and headed for the access door.
"Men..." She mumbled angrily.
"Do you have something you wish to say Lieutenant?" snapped Stacker.
"No Sir!" Foe Hammer said quickly, before opening the door and exiting the cockpit.
Sergeant Johnson was quite impressed, he'd never really seen Stacker in action, but he wasn't as incompetent as he'd first imagined.
"That was well handled, Stacker!" He remarked.
Stacker turned to him,
"Really? Thanks!" He said with a pleasant smile for a moment, before his face hardened, "And WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"
The Sergeant stepped forward and raised his finger,
"Watch how you talk to me Son! I'm going with the first squad!"
Stacker grabbed Johnson by his shoulder plates and shook him,
"LISTEN TO YOURSELF JOHNSON!" Stacker hissed, "That drink has made you lose your common sense! You can't possibly do any good like this, you'll get yourself and maybe others killed!
NOW PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!!"
Johnson listened... what's more, he understood. He took off his cap and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Look, Stacker, you're right, I've done something unforgivable..." Johnson began,
"Hey!" Stacker cut in, "If you shut up and get a grip then I'll forgive you!"
Sergeant Johnson looked at Stacker... finally Johnson said,
"Come onStacker, get ready, we're gonna be there soon, let's get Foe Hammer back in the pilot seat!"
Stacker nodded, looking content.

"OK gentlemen, I'm gonna drop off 2nd squad backup a safe distance from the cruiser and then I'll take 1st squad in as close as I can." Foe Hammer announced on the comm. "And don't worry 2nd squad, I'll be back!"
"YOU BETTER!!" shouted one of the Marines in 2nd squad.
The Pelican came in to land relatively close to the base of a set of towering cliffs, the Covenant cruiser could also be seen from where they were.
"OK, 2nd squad pile out!!" criedStacker, "Good luck Chief, and you too guys!" he said to the rest of them, "Hey Johnson!! Come on!!"
Johnson leaned out of the Pelican hatch, gripping the side,
"Stacker, I'm gonna stay on board and see 1st squad off." He said to Stackerwho was on the ground.
Stacker eyed Johnson suspiciously.
Johnson raised his hand,
"I promise you that's all I'm gonna do!"
Stacker nodded.
"ALRIGHT FOE HAMMER!! GET US UP THERE!!" Johnson bellowed.
Daux and 2nd squad watched the Pelican gain altitude until it was high enough to pass over the cliffs and out of sight.
"Right!" Said one of the Marines, "Who knows some ghost stories!"
The rest of the squad looked at him.
The Marine shifted awkwardly.
"What's with ghost stories?"

The Sergeant stood behind Foe Hammer in the pilot seat, looking out of the cockpit view port.
There was the Covenant cruiser; Johnson had never really had the time to take a long, hard look at one of these great, majestic craft. They had always been too busy trying to destroy them.
Despite the resent he should have felt, he had to admit, it was a beautiful piece of work.
It was then he realised something... it wasn't on the ground!
"Hey Foe Hammer! Look, it's in the air!" he said stupidly,
"Yessir, I make it about 300-350 metres!" replied Foe Hammer.
"We've already hit a problem; how the hell can we get to it?!" cursed the Sergeant angrily.
"Actually Sir we're in real luck" corrected Foe Hammer, "I'm reading gravitational anomalies in the centre section on the belly to the aft of the cruiser. What's more, I've got flux signals ascending and descending distances of about 300 feet give, or take. I'm pretty damn certain there's some kind of grav lift that the Covenant are using to move supplies and themselves up and down!"
"A grav lift WE can use to board! Excellent!" said the Sergeant happily.
"Sir! You'd better tell the Marines and the Chief that we're nearly there, I've just sent Cortana the data on the cruiser's position!" announced Foe Hammer.

Sergeant Johnson entered into the drop-off hatch,
"OK gentlemen, get ready, we're gonna drop you off as near as damn possible!"
One of the Marines looked at the Sergeant apprehensively,
"So you're not coming now?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.
"You've got the Master Chief, boy, you don't need me!" the Sergeant replied evasively.
"Right," came Cortana's simulated voice from the Master Chief's suit, "Let me reiterate before we land. The enemy has captured Captain Keyes, and are holding him aboard one of their cruisers, 'The Truth and Reconciliation.' The ship is currently holding position approximately three hundred meters above the other end of this plateau."
The Marines were lost, one of them asked incrediously,
"So how do we get inside the ship if it's in the air? The Corp issued me a rifle, not wings!"
The Sergeant stepped forward,
"There's a gravity lift that ferries troops and supplies between the ship and the surface. That's our ticket in!"
Land appeared below the Pelican, and it stopped accelerating. It came to a stop and made a steady 180 degree turn anti-clockwise, so the hatch faced towards the plateau.
"HIT IT MARINES! GO! GO! GO! THE CORP AIN'T PAYIN' US BY THE HOUR!!"
The Sergeant barked after them as he watched the Marines and the Chief pile out and disperse, their rifle torches on.
The Sergeant turned around and went back into the cockpit, encase he suddenly decided to jump out at the last moment. Those Marines would likely die tonight.
Foe Hammer took off and headed back to where they'd dropped 2nd squad for safety.

Stacker and the Marines heard the Pelican's distant, roaring engines and looked up to see it emerge from beyond the plateau. It spiralled downwards towards them and came to land on the ground, the airbrakes were disengaged but the throbbing engines still rumbled deeply.
Stacker was relieved to see Sergeant Johnson emerge from the Pelican, followed by Foe Hammer.
"Thank God!" Stacker thought to himself, "I thought he might decide to jump out and join the others..."
Sergeant Stacker jogged up to them,
"How did it go?" he asked,
"Fine." Replied Johnson, after all, what else could he say?
"Come on, we've got a small chemical heat radiator going, it's getting real cold." Indicated Stacker, who had already started walking back to the other Marines, who were in a circle around the glowing chemical rod that shimmered with heat.
They couldn't risk the light of a fire, though if the Covenant decided to search they'd trace the heat signals anyway, so either it was reducing the risk only very slightly. Still, they had to keep warm.

They all sat in a circle, with the eerie, dim glow of the chemical rod casting gaunt shadows on their faces.
"So," began one of the Marines, addressing Johnson, "how did you end up here?"
This caught Johnson off guard, he'd never really thought about how he'd wound up where he was, he'd been to busy worrying about surviving the ordeal.
"Well Son..." he began, "I think it started on Reach. There was a new, secret project underway from SpecWar, headed by a guy named Ackerson, he was a Colonel I think. They needed a squad of test subjects for a new kind of neural implant they had designed to improve individual and squad performance in the field. It was called a ABNDSC- Neural Alphawave Broadcast and Depressant/Stimulant Chip.
We'd had a lot of preparation briefing on its specs and what we could expect from it. It was designed to depress negative neural functions like fear, while boost positive ones like determination and confidence."
One of the Marines interrupted,
"Whoa! Wait a second, you're saying it screwed around with your emotions? Didn't you think it would be a bad idea to have something like that in your head?"
The Sergeant replied,
"It was stimulated by adrenaline, when you were in danger, or in the field. It was then the effects kicked in. It made you a better fighter, it made you more focused and boosted your stamina.
But there was one other, more interesting application the chip had. Which was why they needed a close squad who'd been together a long time, they needed a squad who understood how each other thought.
The chip had a minute broadcast system, it allowed alpha waves to be translated from one neural pattern, broadcasted, and translated to another mind by another chip. Effectively, giving the squad a sort of 'telepathic' bond. Things as complex as orders and strategies were said to be able to be 'telepathically' sent from one person to another, it was ground-breaking technology, and it was estimated that it would improve squad performance by up to 80%. It eliminated the need of a comm, and therefore the need for noise, meaning that there was no risk of being heard for sound. And of course, split second battle strategies and other problems in the field were much more easily understood telepathically than aurally.
It sounded like the piece of tech that might give us the upper hand over the Covenant in the field, we would be able to strategise at a level no one had ever dreamed of before."
Stacker leaned forward,
"So what happened?"
Johnson continued,
"The squad consisted of myself and Privates Hawaka, O'Brian, Jenkins, Flint and Bisenti. We had arrived on Reach on transfer from being posted on the frigate 'Saint Ivy.'
However while we were at the SpecWar facility, before we had even seen the new ABNDSC, the Covenant orbital assault started."
Another Marine interjected,
"So how'd you end up on the Autumn?"
The Sergeant turned to him, irritated,
"I'm gonna tell you, boy! So just shut up and let me continue!
Right, now I'm pretty damn sure none of you have ever been on a planet's surface when it has come under attack from Covenant warships, because few survive an experience like that. Well let me tell you, the people on Reach were freakin' out like it was Armageddon. Which it pretty much was. The difference between Reach and most other human planets that have gotten glassed before was there was enough UNSC forces to hold off the Covenant long enough for any kind of escape to be possible.
So, this guy we were now under the command of, Colonel Ackerson. This guy wasn't nobody's fool, he already had a private space craft, slip-space capable and stocked with supplies, waiting for him in one of the orbital docks.
So -you won't believe this- the bastard used a military machcopter to go and pick up his wife!
When he was just about set to take a launch craft up to the orbital docks he found out that the Covenant were headed for space dock 9, the one with HIS escape ship inside.
So what does he do? He kindly invites us and our guns along for the ride, with the promise he'd get us safely away from Reach!
But we had no other options, we couldn't do anything to help Reach, and we didn't want to die, so we went with Ackerson and his wife.
We reached the docks before the Covenant landing parties, but only a few minutes before, not long enough to get to Ackerson's ship. We met Covenant forces on the way, and had to retreat. In our running around from the Covenant on that Godforsaken dock, Ackerson and his wife were killed, as well as Hawaka and Flint. I was so damn sure we'd had it, I was certain that it was on that dock that we'd meet our deaths.
But no, 'cause it seemed that there had been some unsecured navigational data on a ship in that dock. THAT was what the Covenant were after, and what's more, that's what the Master Chief and his Supersoldiers had come to stop them from getting. We met him in one of the..."
The Sergeant stopped, because Foe Hammer had suddenly stood bolt upright.
"What is it?" asked Stacker urgently.
"Shhhhhh!" hissed Foe Hammer.
They listened.
They listened for several seconds.
"Oh shit..." whispered a Marine.
"BANSHEES!!!" Shrieked Foe Hammer.
They could now make out the far-off but rapidly-getting-closer balls of intense plasma that had erupted from several distant incoming Banshees.
"MOVE!!" Roared Stacker, as deadly plasma rained down around them, sending up boils of scorched earth.
They dashed for the cover of the Pelican, plasma impacting so close they felt their skin blister and bubble from the broiling heat. They had never run so fast.
They leapt into the Pelican's hatch.
"Holy shit this is gonna be a rough flight!!" cursed Foe Hammer as she shot into the cockpit, and quickly set about bringing the Pelican off the ground.
Sergeant Johnson heard the angry sound of plasma impact and bore into the Pelican's roof.
"BUCKLE UP MARINES!!!" Cried Foe Hammer, "THIS IS GONNA BE REAL BAD!!!"
The Pelican's engines screamed and roared as Foe Hammer urged them to go at max.
The Pelican then rocketed forwards with a velocity that made the Sergeant close his eyes for fear his eyeballs would be wrenched from their sockets.
The Sergeant could hear the sound of the wailing Banshees horrifyingly close, he squinted his eyes open to see them giving chase, about 100 metres behind them. The Sergeant counted four, rocking dangerously from side to side as they tried to get dead straight with the Pelican's course... so they could fire into the hatch!!
"FOE HAMMER!!!" Screamed the Sergeant, "CLOSE THE MOTHER FUCKING HATCH!!!"
The hatch whined as it began to close, but the Banshees had already fired an onslaught of intense, superheated plasma. The orbs of light were incoming, but because the Pelican was also accelerating,
the shots were going to take longer to get to their target.
The hatch was nearly closed,
nearly,
nearly,
nearly.
HISS-THUMP!!
The hatch was shut, and moments afterwards the Marines heard the salvo of plasma impact and splash against the door.
The Sergeant closed his eyes in relief, hearing another volley of fire slam into the other side of the closed door.
"HOLY SHIT!!" Exclaimed one of the Marines, "THE DOOR, LOOK!!"
The Sergeant looked up to see that in places the door was glowing an angry shade of red, and with every new impact of plasma the colour intensified.
The drop-off hatch began to fill with the fumes of molten metal, some parts of the door were starting to glow a dangerous yellow. The doors were going to melt!
"BRACE!! EVASIVE MANEUVERS!!!" Screamed Foe Hammer.
The Sergeant felt all of his insides float sickeningly inside his body as the Pelican dove into freefall,
then felt gravity crush his body at five times normal strength as the Pelican pulled up and rose into a steep, 70 degree climb.
The Sergeant closed his eyes and clutched desperately at his straps; the only things that were keeping him from being smashed to death against the inner walls of the drop-off hatch. He kept his eyes shut, and felt his body urging against the straps, he felt freefall quickly followed by crushing ascent, sickening barrel rolls and long, arcing, loop-the-loops that lasted long enough for the blood to rush to his head and collect until he was sure his temples would burst.
All of this time the Pelican was struck in different places by the muffled thumps of the Covenant Banshees' fire.
"Foe Hammer's one of the most talented pilots in the UNSC, but even she can't dodge like this forever,
and they're still hitting us!" The Sergeant thought to himself.
"FOE HAMMER!! SCREW THIS!! ENGAGE THEM!! FIGHT!!!" The Sergeant yelled, so loud his vocal chords felt like they were being scraped with sharp stones.
No reply came, either Foe Hammer hadn't heard him for the screaming engines, or was too tied up to reply.
However, the Sergeant didn't hear the sound of cannon fire or missile launches, the Pelican just continued it's manoeuvres, throwing the Marines against their straps painfully.
The Sergeant had no idea how long he was thrown about for, maybe five minutes, maybe half an hour, all he had to occupy him was the sickening sensations of the evading Pelican.
However finally a sound pierced though the roaring engines, the staccato of the Pelican's 50mm cannon rang like a joyful song, breaking the course of the endless hellride.
A muffled explosion came from in front of the Pelican.
"YEEEEEEHA!! TAKE THAT YA BASTARD!!" Came Foe Hammer's ecstatic voice over the comm.
"Finally!" Thought the Sergeant, "something's happening!!"
However that moment was short lived, soon the Pelican was throwing around like it had been before.
It was then that Foe Hammer made a desperate and incredibly dangerous manoeuvre to lose the Banshees. The Pelican rose at what was an almost vertical angle, for several seconds.
The force of it caused Stacker's cap to fall off, it came to lie at on the access hatch directly below them, pressed flat against it because of the G-force.
The Sergeant gripped at his straps, and couldn't help but thing how painfully his bones would splinter if the straps were to break and he would fall towards the hatch and hit it.
The blood in his appendages couldn't get back up to his heart because of the G-force, he could feel the pressure building.
It was then they got a horrible fright.
The thrusters had suddenly cut out.
Gone.
Silence.
The Sergeant's heart missed a beat.
Then they felt gravity regain it's sickening re-control of the Pelican, and the laws of physics decided where they were going to go.
Down.
The great heavy mass of Pelican began to plummet back towards the ring and the ground, getting faster and faster.
The Sergeant just closed his eyes and tried to grip his straps, every part of him screamed that he was going to die.
The Marines briefly heard the sound of Banshees screeching below them, and then the sound shot passed them and continued on above their heads until the sound disappeared, as the Pelican fell past them and continued to plummet.
The Sergeant was starting to pray when the thrusters cut in.
The Pelican shook, it shook so hard it was surely going to fall apart.
It remained vertical, the thrusters strained and strained, roaring in agony.
But the Pelican began to slow down, but the Sergeant was certain that the ground was too close for them to survive.
The Pelican however continued to tremble and quake with effort, and the Sergeant felt it's descent slowing down.
It was slowing, Foe Hammer was beginning to gain control, but the ground couldn't be more than a kilometre below...
Slowing.
Slowing.
Slowing.
Slowing.
CRUNCH!!
The Pelican came to a violent and instantaneous stop, a stop that could only be brought on by hitting something solid. The shock knocked the wind out of Sergeant Johnson.
"We didn't just hit the ground did we?!?" Choked a breathless Stacker in disbelief.
The thrusters continued to roar, and the whole body of the craft strained, then the Marines felt what could only have been the tail of the Pelican embedded in the ground wrench free.
"Holy Crap..." murmured one of the Marines who was as pale as chalk, "that really was the ground..."
He then passed out.
The Pelican rose and put on a violent burst of speed, finally returning to a horizontal position.
The Sergeant felt indescribable relief now that his rear was connected with the seat under gravity's will.
He was about to try to stagger up and amble into the cockpit when he realised how painfully he'd die if manoeuvres restarted.
"JESUS FOE HAMMER!" Cried Stacker, "Please tell me that wasn't the ground we just hit!!"
At last they heard Foe Hammer's voice again, though it was weak and quiet,
"Okay Sergeant... that wasn't the ground."
Foe Hammer was clearly very badly shaken up.
Sergeant Johnson managed to get his breath back.
"... Foe Hammer... what's our status with the pursuers?" He asked breathlessly.
"They're quite far above us sir, that little stunt sure as hell put some distance between us!" replied Foe Hammer.
"For the heart attack it gave me I should fuckin' hope so woman!!" remarked Stacker.
"Is it straight runnings now Foe Hammer?" asked Sergeant Johnson gingerly.
"I should think so... for now" replied Foe Hammer.
"What about the Chief and the others, they're gonna need evac!" said one of the Marines.
"Our first concern is shakin' off these damn Banshees, Private!" replied Foe Hammer.
However it was only five minutes later when a familiar voice, one that brought a message that got everyone sitting up, chimed into the comm.
"Cortana to Echo 419. We have the Captain and need extraction on the double." Came her calm voice.
"Negative Cortana, I've been engaged by Covenant air patrols, and I'm havin' a tough time shakin' em. You'll be better off findin' your own ride. Sorry!" replied Foe Hammer.
Cortana replied, not at all put off by this bad news,
"Acknowledged Foe Hammer, Cortana out."

The Pelican continued to fly onwards, they'd been flying for another ten minutes after Cortana had called when Foe Hammer came across on the comm.
"Gentlemen I've been observing the ping screen and I think those Banshees have been called back, I'm gonna turn about and see if the Captain's rescue team still need evac.
"Good!" Approved Johnson.
"Transmit to Cortana, let her know we can get back there if needed." Added Stacker.
There was a pause.
"I have done Sergeant, and I'm getting a reading here that says that the Chief's CNI transponder signal is moving, very fast. In our direction too!"
"ETA?" asked Johnson.
"If they continue at current speed and I go at max in their direction... I make it about two minutes sir!"
"Let's go!" said Stacker, gesturing impatiently with his hand.

"Foe Hammer to Cortana, do you read me? I'm picking up a Covenant dropship signal inbound with your position vector, I'm assuming that's your getaway vehicle?" Foe Hammer hailed over the comm.
"That's affirmative Foe Hammer" replied Cortana.
At hearing that they were using a Covenant craft Sergeant Johnson unbuckled and went into the cockpit, he then used the comm.
"Hey Cortana," the Sergeant asked, "Is there any means by which the Covenant can trace that Bandit you're riding in?"
Cortana replied calmly,
"Don't worry Sergeant, I accessed the dropship schematics and disabled it's monitor signal, we're clean."
"And what about Keyes and the rescue squad?" Johnson pressed on.
Keyes' voice came on over the communicator.
"I'm fine Sergeant... but I'm afraid all but the Master Chief in the rescue squad were killed in action..."
The Sergeant paused for a moment...
"...Well, it's good to have you back with us Sir!" he said finally.
"Not just me Sergeant," replied Keyes, "Corporal Patterson and two Privates are also with us, alive and well."
"Well that's some good news!" the Sergeant consoled himself.
However he felt a strange emptiness in his gut, like he didn't really belong where he was, that he should have died with the rescue squad.
"Well," came Keyes over the comm once more, "Let's get back to base, the Covenant didn't have the hospitality to feed us while they held us captive and the Marines and I are starving. Keyes out."

Many curious Marines and Techs were poking around inside the Covenant dropship, they'd had a go flying it, using the plasma gun turret on the underbelly. Some Marines were now leaping into the binding force field in between the two drop-off prongs of the craft, and hooting and laughing as they did summersaults in zero gee.
A few others who found the Chief far more interesting had started to ask about his reflexes, to which the Master Chief had offered for them to try to get a single hit at his armour. The Marines were now furiously trying to tag the Chief's armour using small branches from trees, but the Chief was a blur of moments, blocking each attempt as if he had a sort of foresight.

Despite the human race was predicted to be extinct in a few weeks and they had no idea where they were or how long they'd live, for that brief while, they had forgotten their worries and were having a laugh, something they hadn't done for a long time.
Captain Keyes and Sergeant Johnson watched from the edge of the gathering, uninvolved.
They were discussing what their next move would have to be.
"Cortana says that the Covenant believe that this ringworld is a superweapon. They call it 'Halo,' Cortana says the ring is 'of deep religious significance' to the Covenant." Said Captain Keyes.
"Well," said Johnson, "Looks like we're luckier than we thought, finding something like this. If it is some kind of superweapon then we may have stumbled across the way to save humanity!"
"Well, first we have to get to the control room before the Covenant do. They haven't found it yet, so we've got to hurry if we're going to beat them to it!" Said Keyes, "Cortana has accessed the Covenant battle networks and thinks she has found two very important installations that we need to get to before the Covenant."
"And they are?" asked the Sergeant,
"One of the installations the Covenant aren't sure of, they think it's some kind of weapons cache, the second and more important installation is a Halo map room, that will hold the data we need to find the control room. We need to get there as soon as we can!"
"Right! 'As soon as we can' is right now, I'll get the Marines ready!" Said the Sergeant.
"Very good Sergeant, we're going to need two groups, one for the map room and one for the weapons cache. I want the Marines briefed and ready to go in 20 minutes, understand?"
"YES SIR!" Saluted the Sergeant.

"OK, so let's reiterate" Began Keyes, "Sergeant Stacker and the Master Chief will be headed for the map room with the newly appointed fire teams Alpha and Bravo. Cortana has discovered the Covenant are calling it the Silent Cartographer, you're going to need the Chief because I'm afraid it looks like the Covenant have already started for the island. By the time you reach it the Covenant well have set up fortifications. You'll be taken in by Echo 419 and Tango 332. You will also have with you two of our Warthogs. They're going to be crucial to exploring the island and trying to find the map room before the Covenant. Therefore I suggest the pilots sea drop them and when you have a secure LZ the dropships can retrieve them. This is a precaution to ensure the unprotected undersides don't get damaged by Covenant fire, if finding a secure LZ is difficult.
Now, as for the Weapons Cache, there is good news and bad news.
The bad news is we don't know it's exact location, we know the approximate area. And that area is a long distance away.
The good news is neither do the Covenant know it's exact position, and if we hurry we might even manage to get there and find it before them. We'll be taking the newly appointed fire teams Yankee and Zulu to the weapons cache, we'll also be taking two of the warthogs, we'll need the weaponry if we have to fortify. These will be transported by November 088 and Kilo 757.
Sergeant Johnson and I will head the assault on the Weapons Cache.
After completing your missions we will have another objective other than of course taking control of Halo. This objective is the reclaiming of the Pillar of Autumn, it has resources on board that could prove vital.
That's all we have people, except note that Bravo 022 and Victor 933 will remain here, they will provide reinforcements and equipment if requested." Finished Captain Keyes.
"SO MOVE IT PEOPLE!! LET'S GO! GO! GO!!" shouted Stacker waving his fist in the air.

Sergeant Johnson looked out of the access hatch at the Warthog, rocking slightly where it hung from the Pelican's strong electromagnet. They had approximately a two-hour flight to the objective. With nothing else to listen to but the Pelican's engines he began to play some of his music in his audio player.
He had with him in the newly named fire team Zulu; Mendoza, Jenkins, Bisenti, Kennedy, Weatherly, Locke and Hackett, a full assault team. None of them seemed pleased to hear the sound of 'Shrapnel' (the Sergeant's favourite band when he was younger) echoing inside the drop-off hatch.

The pair of Pelicans, November 088 and Kilo 757 flew onwards, 300 metres above some grass plains, towards the objective.

"Captain? Do you copy? Over." Said Sergeant Johnson into his comm.
"I read you Sergeant, what is it?" came Keyes' reply.
"Sir, I'm wondering what kind of environment the objective is in."
"The Weapons Cache is located somewhere in a rainforest, Sergeant. In fact, you should let your men know, we may encounter some native wildlife there, some of which might be dangerous."
The Sergeant switched off his comm,
"No more dangerous than any of the shit we've seen already." Muttered the Sergeant.
"MARINES!" He shouted, addressing them all, "The objective is located in some dense rainforest. I don't know if the Covenant have but WE certainly have had jungle warfare training, we might be able to use the surroundings to our advantage, understood?"
"SIR, YES SIR!!" They cried.

They'd been in flight for about half an hour when Cortana came in on the comm.
"Cortana to Keyes."
Keyes replied on the comm.
"Go ahead Cortana, have you found the control center?"
"Negative captain, the Covenant have impeded our progress. We can't proceed unless we disable this installation's security systems."
The Sergeant's spirits fell, a problem already.
"Understood. We're still en route to the objective, I may be out of contact when we get there.
Here are your orders; I want you to use any means necessary to force your way into the control center. We have to get to the center before the Covenant. Failure, people, is not an option."
Foe Hammer piped in,
"Echo 419 to ground teams. I'll stay on station and keep an eye out for Covenant bogies."
Sergeant Stacker also added in through the comm.
"Second squad! Ready to roll, soon as everybody's topside!"
A Marine came on,
"LZ looks secure Sir, nothing moving."
Keyes finished,
"Good luck people, Keyes out."
The Sergeant opened a channel to the pilot of their Pelican, Catherine Smith.
"Hey Smith, how long now?"
"ETA estimated at 1 hour and 20 minutes, Sir!" She replied.
The Sergeant drew his pistol and fiddled with the calibration screw before reholstering it.

"*.../**/*...//.../////** NSC forces***//...//* respond"
The comm came alive with crackling static that creased an incoming distress signal.
"*///....*/ crash landed in a gorge...**//..* fucking freezing..**///*.. Repeat, this is Foxtrot 102..///*/
we have crash landed from the...**..///..Autumn. We are and in need of assistance //..*//..///**.. no serious Coven//*...* but still in need of evac...//*/.../// dropship is too damaged to..///**// send assistance..////**// will repeat this message//..//**//at standard/**//-/.. Foxtrot 102 out.//...."
The Sergeant went to the comm and hailed Keyes,
"Sir, we've got to help them!" he said.
"I agree entirely Sergeant, I'm sending you and fire team Zulu to rescue Foxtrot 102, fire team Yankee and I will proceed to the objective and determine the precise location of the weapons cache. Good luck, and bring back those Marines Sergeant! That's an order!"
The Sergeant commed the pilot,
"Smith, let's find the source of that signal and get those Marines out of there!"
"Yes Sir!" replied Lieutenant Smith.

"Sir, check it out, there's the gorge, it looks cold down there!" said Bisenti, leaning out of the hatch.
From one kilometre above, the gorge looked like a splitting crack in the bleak, white, snowy wasteland.
"Hey Smith! Have you pinpointed the distress signal?" Asked the Sergeant.
"Yes Sir, I'm bringing us in at an appropriate descent rate, you might also want to know that I'm scanning a lot of dense material in peculiar formations below this snow. I think there must be tunnels below it... wait, yes! Yes, I'm also reading structures, one of them is pretty big."
"Yeah? Well stick it in the flight logs Smith, it might be useful later, but let's get those Marines out of there."
"HOLY SHIT!!" Came Smith on the comm again, "I... uh, I mean sorry Sir, but I'm picking up distant Covenant readouts, and plenty of them, you might want to see this."
The Sergeant unbuckled and went to the cockpit.
"Here Sir, I'll just see if I can get a rough diagram on the tactical flight monitor..."
On one of the screens above their heads came a birds eye diagram of the gorge.
"Here's the distress beacon," Smith pointed to a pulsing, yellow dot, "And you can see, the Covenant are advancing." She continued, gesturing at the screen as a number of red dots representing Covenant forces.
The Sergeant grunted,
"Thank you Lieutenant, but we're still going to rescue those Marines, now bring us down, I don't need to tell you to be careful how you go."
The Pelican continued downwards towards the gorge and Foxtrot 102, the crashed Pelican.

The Sergeant saw Plasma fire streak upwards, just missing the Pelican's tail, from where he sat in the drop-off hatch from Covenant who had not quite adjusted their aim to take into account the Pelican's speeding velocity.
They were now skimming the top of the gorge, and the Sergeant knew as soon as they descended into it, they would need to drastically slow down, which was going to cause problems.
The Sergeant looked down to see the floor of the gorge, and every so often he spotted Covenant; a party of Covenant, a pair of Ghosts on recon, and to his horror, Wraith tanks.
Hackett was also chancing a look down out of the hatch.
"Crap, they sure are taking one crashed Pelican seriously aren't they Sir? They've got enough to siege a fortified base!" Exclaimed Hackett.
"I get the feeling they aren't worried about us picking up Foxtrot 102, or even about Foxtrot 102 itself"
Remarked Locke, who was checking his armour.
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Hackett.
Locke didn't look up, he simply replied with a hint of superiority in his voice.
"Well haven't you realised that if they really cared then Banshees would be on us by now? But nothing, it seems like they're mostly ground based, perha-"
"Actually smart ass," said the Sergeant, a tiny bit irritated with the soldier's arrogance, "We haven't met anything because Smith has been taking every precaution to avoid air patrols, they'll be after us soon, don't you worry!"
Locke continued to check his equipment without replying.
"Marines, we're here, get ready, Foxtrot will be in visual range in a moment... oh dear, they had a rough landing..."
The Sergeant went into the cockpit, as he could see nothing from the hatch while the Pelican remained facing the direction it did.
The Pelican lay sprawled badly against the gorge wall, supplies were littered everywhere, there was also a parked Scorpion, but no soldiers... wait, no, there was one!
The lone Marine was waving frantically.
"Yeah... like we haven't noticed you, y'idiot." Muttered Smith to herself, as she brought the Pelican down.
The Marines piled out.

The lone survivor sprinted to meet them.
"THANK GOD!! I thought no one got the distress call!"
"Are you the only survivor, Marine?" The Sergeant asked, stepping forward.
"I hope not Sir, there were six of us who survived the crash. About eight hours ago we decided to recon the area, it didn't seem like we were going to get any assistance. I was the one who was supposed to stay behind and hold the fort encase anyone showed up. The other five headed in that direction."
The whole company turned to where the Marine was pointing, it was a tunnel in the curving gorge wall.
"Well," Began the Sergeant, "we're here, but if your friends did head that way they're probably dead, the place is crawling with Covenant."
"Sir, how many were there?" asked the Marine.
"A lot Marine, far too many for them to have had a chance!" the Sergeant replied.
"Exactly Sir!" Replied the Marine, with his index finger held in the air. "Why would the Covenant send so many forces into this gorge when there's only six piddling humans to deal with? Whatever is in this gorge must be very important, I think we should establish an assault head, call in reinforcements, and fight our way up!"
"Marine, we already have a mission outside of this rescue op," replied the Sergeant, "We can't try to fight our way up here, we already have other objectives."
The Marine stared at the Sergeant hard, he was clearly determined,
"Sir, I can assure you that the Covenant are making a swift and steady approach towards our location, and now that they know we have air support," the Marine gestured to the rumbling, landed Pelican, "Covenant Banshees will be on top of us as soon as we get over this gorge, we're gonna find escape hard. This may be the most significant chance we have as to finding out what the hell this ring is, let's take it!"
The Sergeant considered. Whatever would get so many Covenant out in such harsh conditions must have been important, perhaps the Marine was right.
He nodded,
"Alright," he grunted, "I'm sure Keyes would approve, let's establish a head here."
"Sir!" protested Bisenti, "Did you see how close the Covenant are, they're probably gonna have dropships on us within minutes!"
The Sergeant considered this, then addressed the whole group again,
"OK, Marines, pile into the Pelican, get Smith to take you to the end of this gorge, it'll be a safer distance from the enemy, it should give you more time to fortify!"
The Marines nodded and began to climb into the craft.
"Except Mendoza and Locke" said the Sergeant, "and you boy!" he added, addressing the lone Marine survivor.
"We're going to stay here and see if we can get that Scorpion tank and whatever supplies we can over there." The Sergeant continued.
The Pelican took off.
"Sir," said the surviving Marine, with a look of shame on his face, "The Scorpion entrance hatch is frozen stiff, you can't open it!"
The Sergeant glared at the Marine, then finally he snorted,
"Horseshit, we aren't dieing here 'cause you ain't got the muscle to wrench open a frozen door, Mendoza, go get that Scorpion running!"
Mendoza started jogging to the Scorpion.
The Marine protested,
"No Sir... really, I've been trying, it's stuck really..."
"Oh shut up!" The Sergeant snapped angrily.
The Sergeant switched on his comm to the open UNSC frequency,
"This is Fire Team Zulu requesting immediate assistance from any UNSC forces, Does anyone copy?"
The Sergeant got an almost immediate response, from someone whom he had not been expecting to hear from.
It was Cortana, she was here in the gorge, and if there was Cortana there was surely the Chief.
"Cortana to Fire Team Zulu, I read you. Fire Team Zulu, this is Cortana. Hold position, We're on our way."
They were saved, the Sergeant couldn't believe it, the Chief was supposed to be with the other Fire Teams searching for the map room, what was he doing here? Why was he in the middle of this snowy wasteland? Had they finished the mission already? A lot of time had passed since the Chief and the others had assaulted the map room, after all. There must have been something of importance that had brought him here. But the Sergeant didn't have the time to worry about that, he couldn't have wished for better assistance, he replied on his comm.
"Roger that, make it quick!"
The Sergeant turned to Lock and the other surviving Marine, he shouted to the surviving Marine.
"Hey, Sunshine! What have you managed to salvage from the crash in terms of heavy weapons?"
The Marine replied,
"One Jackhammer rocket launcher and plenty of rockets, Sir!"
The Sergeant looked at Lock,
"Well Boy, you're a heavy weapons specialist, get Sunshine here to help you load up!"
"I'm not a heavy weapons specialist!" Protested Locke angrily.
"You are now!" Snapped the Sergeant "Less lip, more action Locke, the Covenant will be on us within minutes, and I want to see their blood staining this whole damn gorge... Well don't just stand there like spare parts, MOVE YOUR ASSES!!!"
The pair jumped
"YES SIR!"
They started running to the crashed Pelican to load up and prepare.
The Sergeant went to see how Mendoza was getting on with the Scorpion.
He was disappointed to see Mendoza bent over the hatch of the tank, grunting heavily as he tried to wrench it open.
"...fuckin' thing is...unghhugh...stuck..." He grunted.
The Sergeant realised that maybe the Scorpion really was iced up good, he hadn't noticed because of what was going on, but it was bone-chillingly freezing.
"Keep trying, it'll budge sooner or later!" The Sergeant said, walking off.
"Si crees que es tan faccil haz lo tu, hijo de puta!" Mumbled Mendoza angrily in Spanish, his native language.
The Sergeant knew Mendoza had just mumbled some kind of insult at him, but he didn't have time to reprimand him.
The Sergeant went to see if he could get a better weapon from the small pile of ammunition and guns that Lock and the other Marine were digging up from the Pelican's weapons lockers.
He loaded up a sniper rifle, he had always been a good shot, having a steady arm was only half of being able to use a sniper rifle, you needed to be confident. You are much more likely to hit something if you aim and fire spontaneously instead of quibbling over getting the crosshairs dead on target.
The Sergeant's comm crackled and Jenkins' voice came through.
"Sir? We're down, Sir! This gorge doesn't continue much further, come round the bend we flew past and you'll be able to see us, you don't have far to come."
The Sergeant replied,
"Look Son, we're havin' trouble with the Scorpion, I don't know if we can reach you, we may have to stay here."
Before Jenkins had a chance to reply, Smith, in the Pelican came roaring around the canyon bend into view, coming to hover above them, her jets sending funnels of powdered snow blowing up in protest.
"Sir, this is Smith, what do you want me to do now Sir?"
The Sergeant looked up to the craft and spoke into the comm.
"Yeah, Lieutenant we need you to be intact at the end of this if we are to get out of here alive, get some altitude and stay away from Covie air patrols, keep us updated on how close the Covenant are!"
There was a pause.
"Roger that Sir!"
The Pelican rose and rose until it was free of the icy canyon walls, it engaged it's lateral thrusters and ascended out of view.
"Holy shit!" came Smith's voice on the comm, "Sir, you've got Covenant dropships inbound, four of them. Two have trajectories headed for an LZ about 800 metres in front of you, they've got Wraith tanks! The other two are headed for the rest of Zulu Team at the end of the gorge one has a Wraith tank, the other has two Shade turrets, you'll be surrounded and the rest of Zulu are going to be in immediate danger. I'm preparing to engage Sir!"
The Sergeant boomed angrily into his comm.
"DON'T YOU DARE LIEUTENNANT!! IF YOU GET SHOT DOWN WE'RE DONE FOR!! WE'LL MAKE IT, GET A SAFE DISTANCE AWAY, THAT'S AN ORDER!!"
The Sergeant blocked anymore transmissions to his comm from Smith, she had to respect his authority and not protest, besides, he didn't have time to argue.
The three Marines were now stood watching him, Locke asked,
"What's happening?"
The Sergeant looked grim,
"Covenant forces will be coming down in front and behind us, let's hope the Chief gets here soon, 'till then let's keep it together, stay vigilante, we could be having forces coming from both sides soon.
They were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned but the Sergeant didn't have the luxury of being able to worry.
The Sergeant and the Marines then heard the sound of Covenant dropships echo along the canyon walls, they looked up to see a pair of the craft fly over head above the gorge, inbound for the rest of Fire Team Zulu, the Sergeant could still hear their engines as they came to a throbbing landing, they hadn't landed far around the bend of the canyon wall, easily close enough for some Covenant forces to come backwards towards himself and the other three Marines. The Sergeant trained his sniper rifle at the bend of the canyon wall, if anything did come around it then it would get a little shock.
Jenkins' voice crackled in on the comm.
"Uh, Sir, we've got company, two dropships are inbound, we've got one that's landed not far from your position, it's dropping off a Wraith tank, and the other... OH CRAP IT'S CIRCLING! GET COVER GUYS!!!"
The transmission stopped abruptly.
"JENKINS!!" The Sergeant shouted into his comm, "DO YOU READ ME!?! JENKINS!!!"
There was a pause, then Jenkins breathless voice came in,
"... oh shit... Sir, the other Covenant dropship has... ... dropped off a pair of Shade infantry turrets......we're pinned down in the cover of some trees, the Chief better get here soon... OH DEAR CRAP NO!! GUYS GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WARTHOG!!! INCOMING TANK PLASMA!!!!"
The transmission stopped again.
The Sergeant had heard enough,
"MARINES!! GET SOME COVER!! I WANT LOCKE AND MENDOSA AIMING DOWN THE GORGE AND WATCHING THAT TUNNEL IN THE GORGE WALL!! SUNSHINE!! YOU'RE AIMING UP THE GORGE WHERE THE REST OF ZULU ARE! MOVE IT!!"
They assembled on a raised mound of snow, adorned with snowy boulders behind which they took cover, prepared for enemy forces.
The Sergeant could still hear the distant gunfire of his men fighting the enemy, but he knew they wouldn't have to time to tell him what was going on if he commed them.
"INCOMING!!" Cried Locke.
The Sergeant turned to see a blue Elite and a squad of tightly formed Grunts emerging from the tunnel in the gorge wall that Lock and Mendoza had been aiming at.
"FIRE!!" Roared the Sergeant, training his sniper rifle.
Lock sent a rocket flying towards the Covenant squad, leaving a thin trail of exhaust.
The Sergeant (who had been aiming through his scope) saw the Covenant's reactions.
The Elite made a graceful leap out of the rocket's way, rolled and came effortlessly back up to a standing position.
The Grunts however, panicked. A few managed a clumsy lunge out of the way, but the rocket blew up, sending a plume of fire into the air, throwing the Grunts into the air, the splash damaged even hit the Elite.
The Elite's silver shields, however, took all the damage, and the Elite, now the last one standing, ran for cover.
"You're mine..." whispered the Sergeant, he squeezed the sniper rifle trigger, the high velocity bullet punctured right through the Elite's weakened shield and cleanly blew through it's head, blue blood erupted from the gaping head wound as the creature fell heavily to the snow-covered ground.
The Sergeant breathed deeply, smelling the distinctive odour of the compressed gas that the sniper rifle left a trail of when it fired, (as it was compressed gas propelled), it was a good smell, it meant there was one less Covenant to worry about.
"WHOOOYEAH!!" Cried Locke, "THAT ONE'S FOR MARY!!"
"Sir? Sir do you copy? SIR!?!" came Jenkins on the comm.
"I read you, Son, what's goin' on up there?"
"We're pinned down Sir! Two shade gun turrets and a Covenant tank are opening fire on our position, we can't stay in cover because were getting' scrambled by the tank plasma, we've got casualties, you've got to get that Scorpion tank up here to deal with the Covenant tank or we're all gonna die!"
"I'll be there Son, sit tight and stay alive!" the Sergeant assured Jenkins.
The Sergeant turned to the others,
"WE HAVE TO GET THE SCORPION HATCH OPEN!!" His voice was laced with urgency,
"Locke, reload with some more rockets and cover our asses, Mendoza and Sunshine, we need to get that frozen hatch open. MOVE!! TRIPLE TIME!!!"
Mendoza and the other Marine ran with the Sergeant.
They scrambled onto the Scorpion and all gripped the access hatch, but before they could try to wrench it they heard a panic-stricken scream.
"HELP ME GUYS!!!" cried Locke, who was fumbling with a rocket as he tried to reload, there were three Jackals advancing on him.
The Jackals discharged their weapons at Lock, who's terrified cries were cut painfully short.
The Sergeant roared angrily from where he stood on the Scorpion and fired all four rounds of his sniper rifle at the Jackals without really aiming.
The vulture-like creatures merely raised their shields, the rounds bounced off harmlessly.
"CHEEEEARGE!!!!" cried the Sergeant, reloading his rifle.
Mendoza and the other Marine ducked and weaved out of the Jackals' fire, forcing them to raise their shields with counter-fire. As they distracted the creatures, the Sergeant got in closer and flanked from the side of the trio of vulture-headed humanoids. He unlatched and lobbed a grenade that landed satisfyingly right among the creatures.
FWOOOOOM!!!
The Jackals flew forwards, and the surrounding snow was coated with dark blue blood.
They cheered, the Sergeant was pleased, they were coping better than he had anticipated, despite being at a disadvantage and in a bad situation.
He could still hear fighting beyond the gorge bend, Jenkins and the others were still in trouble!
"MARINES!! HELP ME GET THIS GOD DAMN HATCH OPEN, THE OTHERS NEED OUR HELP!!!"
They all scrambled onto the access hatch again, and wrenched.
They heaved and grunted, and the frozen, brittle hinges began to whine.
"It's. Starting. To. Budge!!" Mendoza grunted through gritted teeth.
Just then the Sergeant saw the green flash of a plasma weapon in the distance out of the corner of his eye.
Instinctivly he leapt backwards, and so did the other two Marines.
They fell behind the cover of the Scorpion Tank in time to see a whistling streak of plasma skim the top of the Tank.
The Sergeant chanced a glance around the Tank, but instantly pulled back as more volleys of plasma
Fired, striking the Tank tracks with angry hisses.
He hadn't had time to look but judging by the amount of fire that was resonating against the side of the Scorpion, they were definitely outnumbered.
"This is it men, let's die with our guns blazing!" said the Sergeant with calm resolve.
The two Marines paused, before silently nodding, though they avoided eye contact with the Sergeant.
Three.
Two.
One.
"ARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!" they roared as they leapt from around the Scorpion, unleashing all their guns had upon the Covenant ranks.
The Covenant fell back momentarily in surprise, before they regained and sent back counter fire.
The Marines ducked and weaved for cover, but there was little to hide behind.
The Sergeant saw a Grunt hurl a grenade at them, he leaped out of the blast, landing flat on his chest.
He made no attempt to get up, he was expecting plasma to tear through him where he lay, but before that happened he heard the powerful growl of a Warthog's revving engine. He looked up in time to see a Warthog come careering into view, it skidded along the icy floor of the gorge, the chain gun's staccato echoed off the gorge walls as it rained merry hell at the Covenant, bullets tore in to their formations, Grunts were mowed to the floor, the Elites spasmed with bullet impacts. The Sergeant didn't wait, he aimed his sniper rifle and helped the gunner, firing at one of the Elites that still stood, he kept firing even after it had hit the ground.
The Covenant corpses lay littered and sprawled on the blood-stained ground.
There was no time to celebrate, more Covenant were appearing from the tunnel in the gorge wall, the Sergeant backed out of the way as the Warthog crashed into the thick of the squad of aliens, the chain gun rang loudly and rained a firestorm over them.
The Sergeant aimed his gun, the crosshairs found a Grunt, and he squeezed the trigger.
He aimed again, this time at a Jackal's exposed back, he blew straight through the creature's spine.
Still looking through the scopes, he spotted a fleeting glance at the glinting chassis of a Covenant Ghost.
He looked up from his gun scope.
Ghosts, a pair of them, circling and strafing the Warthog.
His Marines opened fire as they ducked and dodged around the aggressors.
The Elites driving the Ghosts looked like exotic Hells angels, piloting their screaming, purple chromed assault hover bikes.
He aimed for the driver of one of the Ghosts and fired as soon as the crosshairs passed over the Elite's iridescent blue armour. The creature was thrown out of the vehicle by the force of the shot, though it looked like it had survived, however the Sergeant was pleased to see it disappear under the spinning wheels of the Warthog moments after.
The gunner in the Warthog continued to fire at the second Ghost, and after moments of sustained impacts the craft exploded, sending the charred driver flying forward, then bouncing and crashing heavily along the floor.
The Gorge echoed for a few moments with the memories of combat, and then there was silence.
They listened for more Covenant.
Nothing came.
It was over, they had killed them all. The Sergeant let out a tired breath, he was getting weary of this constant fighting, though he would never admit to himself it could have been because he was getting too old to be in the field.
His heart leapt when he saw who climbed from the Warthog. It was the Master Chief! He'd managed to reach Jenkins and the others!
And sure enough, it was Jenkins who was climbing from the passenger seat, with Bisenti dismounting from the gunner post on the back of the Warthog.
But it looked like they were the only two from those who had been at the end of the gorge who had survived.
The Sergeant was about to run to meet them when he heard the scream of more Ghosts, coming from around the same gorge bend that the Warthog had come from.
The company trained their guns as a single Ghost came crashing uncontrollably around the bend and hit the gorge wall.
The Sergeant only just stopped himself from firing.
It was a Marine in the driver's seat.
The Ghost regained itself and came sliding along uncomfortably towards them, but the Marine managed to stop it before it flew right into the company of people.
The Sergeant could now see that it was Kennedy in the driver's seat.

They had lost several men, his squad been whittled down to nearly half, not including himself and the Chief.
"Enemy forces eliminated. The area's secure." Announced the lone surviving Marine.
Bisenti didn't seem pleased,
"Aw, crap. Let's get the hell outta here, man! Somebody call the dropship!" he cried.
The Sergeant threw out his chest, he wasn't putting up with that,
"You stow that garbage right NOW, mister. You're a Marine, so act like it, dammit. We've got a job to do!" he snapped.
Cortana gave a light counterpoint to the Sergeant over the comm,
"Negative, team. No evac available at this time. But the Chief and I could use some assistance."
This was more like it! The Sergeant and his squad had been saved several times now by the Chief, now they had a chance to return the favour.
"Okay, Marines. Time to pay back the Chief for pulling your sorry tails out of the fire!"
The Sergeant bellowed.
The Sergeant felt a little bemused to see the Chief stride up to the Scorpion and wrench open the frozen hatch with no apparent difficulty, but then, the Chief was a Spartan.
All the remaining Marines (bar Kennedy, who remained on the Ghost) scrambled onto the Scorpion, one to a corner.
The Sergeant sat on the freezing, solid battleplate of the Tank and loaded up his sniper rifle.
This wasn't going to be a stroll in the park.
"HEY SUNSHINE!! The Sergeant shouted over the rumbling Scorpion to the Marine survivor they'd found who sat on the opposite side of the Tank to the Sergeant, "I FORGOT TO ASK, WHAT'S YOUR NAME!?!"
The Marine cupped his hands to his mouth,
"PRIVATE HUFF!!"

Part 6

"I'm in no hurry for a heroic charge on those guns Cortana! Holding position!"
said the Corporal.
Sergeant Johnson didn't know who the Corporal was, but they'd met him along with the rest of his squad as they'd been progressing along the snowy terrain on the Scorpion Tank, driven by the Chief.
Exactly where it was the Master Chief was headed the Sergeant wasn't actually sure, but he couldn't think of another person he'd rather be tagging along with.
The Corporal and his squad had been the survivors of the Pelican crash that had originally pulled the Sergeant and Fire Team Zulu from their original mission to the weapons cache, so as to rescue them.
They were the ones Huff had told them about, the squad who'd gone to recon the surrounding area.
It was a good thing they'd come across them in the end, they were now a sizable group of Marines, but even so, the Sergeant knew that above the ridge ahead they were painfully outnumbered.
The Master Chief was scaling his way up the ridge now, wielding a Jackhammer rocket launcher on his shoulder.
The hulking mass of armour disappeared over the ridge out of sight.
The Marines waited for a few moments.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
They saw a plume of fire erupt from beyond the ridge, and heard the death cries of Covenant.
"NOW!! GO! GO! GO!!" The Sergeant said, who wanted the Marines up there while the Covenant were panicking under the Chief's unstoppable assault.
The Sergeant emerged over the ridge to see the corpses of Covenant, as well as the scorched black craters in the snow of rocket explosions. A few terrified Grunts remained had survived the Master Chief's attack.
They recoiled in terror at seeing a dozen Marines following up after the first assault from the Master Chief. As the Grunts fled, the Marines sent bullets into their backs at their leisure.
The Sergeant could see the Master Chief was now hidden behind some snowy boulders, rocket launcher aimed at a pair of stationary guns. The rocket launcher coughed and sent a rocket cruising towards a pair of plasma turrets on the other side of the gorge.
However the Marines had another problem, a pair of incoming Ghosts, and the Sergeant also spotted an incoming Banshee in the distance.
The Marines ducked and weaved around the pair of Ghosts that harassed them, diving into cover from the Covenant vehicles' blazing guns.
Everything had turned into chaos, the Ghosts had completely scrambled their formation, and the Sergeant heard the screams of one of the Marines as he was strafed by one of the Ghosts.
"CONCENTRATE FIRE ON ONE AT A TIME!!!" The Sergeant yelled.
The Marines desperately tried to pull it together and opened fire on one of the Ghosts, the Sergeant saw the driving Elite's shields flicker and flash as a glancing bullet hit him.
Out of the corner of his eye the Sergeant spotted the Master Chief returning to help them after finishing off the stationary guns. He drew a plasma grenade and flung it, it struck the driver of one of Ghosts on his shoulder and remained there. The Elite thrashed in panic, trying to shake off the grenade, the Ghost it drove careered crazily, slamming into the second Ghost that the Marines were firing at.
The grenade detonated, the two Ghosts blew apart, and the pair of charred Elites were thrown into the air.
"TAKE COVER!!" cried a Marine, pointing at the incoming Banshee.
The Sergeant didn't have the time to run, the Banshee was headed his way. In panic, without aiming, he fired all four rounds in his sniper magazine in quick succession at the craft, but the bullets ricocheted off the bulbous head of the incoming enemy craft, not deterring it's course.
The Banshee fired it's fuel rod canon, the brilliant green light streaked towards the Sergeant, he sprinted and leapt desperately. The rod impacted and exploded with intense green light and a blast of scorching heat, but the Sergeant had managed to leap out of the explosion's range.
However the Banshee adjusted it's course and tracked the Sergeant. If the Sergeant had been looking through his rifle's scopes at that moment he surely would have been able to look right up the Banshees canon barrels.
But before the Banshee could fire, a rocket appeared from nowhere, striking the craft on it's side and blowing it to pieces, the pilot could also be seen spinning crazily in the air as he hurtled towards the ground along with the Banshee.
The Sergeant realised in horror that the remaining frame of the Banshee was going to come crashing down right on him.
His quick thinking saved his life, rolling forwards just in time to avoid being squelched into the snow as the flaming frame of the Banshee smashed into the ground behind him with a might great clatter.
"Thing almost killed me!" the Sergeant whispered to himself stupidly.

But they had done it, they'd managed to clear the area, it was secure.
The Marines followed the relentless Chief, who wasn't about to stop for a breather, he continued to run onwards, heading now for a huge and curiously shaped, shining metal door in the gorge wall, the remains of a pair of blasted gun turrets were strewn on the ground on either side of the doors.
As they neared this door in the gorge wall it hissed and the four parts of it retracted and it opened, revealing a pair of startled Elites.
Before these new enemies had a chance to even roar, the Master Chief had sent a rocket from his launcher.
The airborne explosive impacted along one of the walls of the corridor that lead on from the door, the splash damage killed one of the Elites, the other was flung forward violently, the Marines saw it's shields flicker and die out.
Unshielded, the Elite soon fell to the floor with an agonised gurgle under the earth-shattering chorus of the soldiers' rifles sending a maelstrom of bullets through it's chest.
The walls of the corridor that extended from the now open door in the gorge glistened with alien blood.
There was a pause, then Cortana addressed the company over the comm,
"Fire Team Zulu. I've sent a distress signal tagged with your current position. Hold here and await evac. The Master Chief and I are going to continue on inside."
And with that, the Master Chief disappeared behind the closed automatic doors.
And all went quiet.
"So," said Corporal White, "Who wants a smoke?"

The Sergeant hated this kind of time, just after a lot of combat, he could never be sure if the fighting was over yet, he found himself too twitchy and alert, and kept thinking there were more enemies hidden behind virtually everything he looked at.
He and the Marines were all smoking stubby cigarettes. He didn't smoke usually, but the cold was like an icy knife, and the warm smoke of the little white stick was good.
By now the Sergeant knew all the new faces, namely those of the survivors that they'd found when they had been riding on the Scorpion with the Chief. The survivors had been there since the Pillar of Autumn landed. Apparently they'd left Huff behind encase rescue arrived, and they'd gone to recon the surrounding area. That was when Covenant forces arrived and they'd had to hide, only to be found soon after by Covenant recon Ghosts. Luckily by the time they had been spotted by Covenant forces the Master Chief and the Marines on the Scorpion had been there to save their butts.
The new faces were: Corporal White and Privates Chips Dubbo, Dawson, Simone, Diaz Granados, and of course Huff, whom the Sergeant and Team Zulu had met at the Pelican crash site.
A number of White's men had frostbite after being in the icy conditions for several days.
"So fockin' cold," said Dawson, "I'm lookin' forward ta getting' sumthin' warm ta eat, no more fockin' rock-frozen dried rations!"
"Amen to that!" agreed Chips Dubbo.
The gorge walls began to echo with the sound of roaring jets.
"Here comes our ride boys!" cried Jenkins.
"Yeh, let's hope this one don't crash!" said Diaz Granados, shooting an angry glare at Simone.
"Hey! I'd hardly done any Pelican sims before, I got us down didn't I? Next time you can drive!"
protested Simone.
The Marines climbed eagerly into the Pelican, once they were all on board, the craft rose into the air.
Smith the pilot came in over the comm.
"How did the mission go Sergeant?"
"We rescued six survivors, Smith. But Hackett, Weatherly and Locke are dead." Said the Sergeant bitterly.
Looks of guilt twitched across the survivors' faces, as they bowed their heads in respect. It was in trying to rescue them that Hackett, Weatherly and Locke had been killed.
"Anyway Smith, call in a free Pelican to meet us en route to our original objective to resupply us with ammunition. We've got to get back to the weapons cache to help Keyes. Has there been any word from Keyes? Have they pinpointed the exact coordinates of the cache?"
"The Captain is out of range Sir, we should hear from him when we get closer to the objective."
Corporal White didn't look pleased,
"Uh excuse me, what 'original objective' are you talking about here?" He asked.
The Sergeant faced the Corporal,
"The one we were headed to before we received your distress call and had to come pull you out of that Covenant-filled gorge, Corporal."
The Corporal straightened, he was a big man, taller than the Sergeant,
"With all due respect, Sir, my men have been fighting in freezing conditions for several days, we're not fit for any more fighting."
"I'm not saying you have to come with us Corporal, you may leave with the ammo resupply Pelican we've called in" the Sergeant said coldly.
"Oh... well, thank you Sir." The Corporal replied.
There was an awkward moment before the Corporal sat down again.
"Sir!" announced Smith, "I've got a Pelican resupply ship coming, I've altered our route accordingly to allow them to make a rendezvous with us."
"Excellent, they can take the survivors back also." Replied the Sergeant.

"Pelican Kilo 757, this is Pelican Victor 933, I believe you ordered some ammunition!" came the pilot of the new Pelican over the comm, a man this time.
"Thanks Packham" replied Smith, addressing the pilot of Victor 933, "It seems you'll also be taking some survivors with you, over."
There was a pause,
"Copy that Smith, the more the merrier!"
The two Pelicans came down to land on a dusty plain, with thin, short grass that was surprisingly rigid and tough under the Marines feet.
The Marines all helped load the ammunition from Pelican, grenades, assault rifles, pistols, clips and more.
"Hehey! Check it out guys!" shouted Bisenti with a stupid grin, holding up a distinctive hubcap shaped device.
"Lotus mines! Looks like someone back at base is feelin' generous!"
"Watch it 'Bazooka Joe!'" The Sergeant shot warningly, "There's enough shebang in that to turn us all into a smoking crater!"
"Sorry Sir!" Said Bisenti, who tried to suppress his grin as he returned to helping the others load up.

In two minutes the ammunition had been transferred.
The Sergeant faced Corporal White and his men.
"This is where we part ways, Corporal."
Corporal White nodded and saluted, to which the Sergeant returned his salute.
The two groups of Marines turned and climbed into the two Pelicans, the Sergeant and Mendoza, Jenkins, Kennedy and Bisenti into Kilo 757, the Corporal and Chips Dubbo, Dawson, Simone and Diaz Granados in the other.
The two Pelicans took off and flew away in nearly opposite directions.
The Sergeant loaded his belt up with some clips from an ammunition crate.
He sat down and drew his 2nd favourite audio chip, 'Black Snow', and once again the Pelican filled with the sound of heavy metal. In the Sergeant's opinion it was the most powerful symbol of humanity.
To the other Marines, it was very dated crap.

Part 7

Kennedy peered out of the Pelican,
"Whoa, check out that jungle, wonder what's in there..." he said to himself.
"Well I'm hoping Keyes and 2nd squad is," the Sergeant said, who activated his comm and addressed Smith, "Hey Smith, are you gonna get me radio contact with Keyes or what?"
There was a pause.
"Sorry Sir," apologised Smith, "I've got radio contact, transmitting now."
Keyes voice came in,
"Sergeant? Do you copy?"
"Affirmative Sir! Have you found the weapons cache Captain?" the Sergeant asked.
"We've sighted it from a mountain side that we climbed to get a view of the surroundings an hour ago, Sergeant, I'm sending your pilot the coordinates. You and 1st squad can get there now and check it out, we're about a ten minute trek away, we'll arrive soon."
"Yes Sir!" replied the Sergeant, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather we gave you a lift Sir?"
"No need Sergeant, we'll be there soon enough, besides, you'll be hard pressed to find a way through this canopy. Get down there and check it out before we arrive."
"Yes Sir. Are there any Covenant forces? Is there anything else we should know about?"
There was a pause,
"Corporal Patterson says he thought he heard distant Covenant dropships a while ago, but none of us have met anything or heard anything since, it could have been his imagination, but of course you'll proceed with caution."
"Of course." Agreed the Sergeant.
"Oh, and Sergeant!" Keyes added.
"Yes Sir?"
"Watch out for the bushes with the red thorns, if you scratch yourself on one you'll be very sorry. A few of the Marines have learnt the hard way, apparently it's very painful."
The Sergeant heard a Marine grumble something over the comm.
Captain Keyes gave a short laugh, then addressed the Sergeant again,
"Yes Sergeant, it's very, very painful apparently, so watch where you step. Keyes out."
The Sergeant switched off his comm.
The Marines looked at him.
"So what's the situation Sir?" Asked Jenkins.
"We've got the coordinates, we'll be at the weapons cache soon. Keyes' squad won't be there when we arrive, but they will be soon, one of you can wait for them. The rest of us'll head in and check the place out, understand?"
"Yes Sir." They replied.
"Oh," The Sergeant added, "And if you spot anything red and thorny, don't touch it."

The Sergeant's 'Black Ice' chip finished, he took it out and replaced it with 'Shrapnel.'
"Why do we always have to listen to this old stuff Sarge?" asked Mendoza exasperatedly.
"Watch your mouth son!" Snapped the Sergeant angrily, "This 'stuff' is your history. It should remind you Grunts what we're fightin' to protect!"
Mendoza turned to Jenkins,
"Hey, if the Covenant wanna wipe out this particular part of my history, that's fine by me." He joked.
"Yeah, better it than us!" Agreed Bisenti.
"You ask 'em real nice next time you see 'em Bisenti. I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige." Shot the Sergeant coolly.
The Pelican came to a steady halt and began to descend.
Smith chimed into the comm.
"LZ looks clear, I'm bringing us down!"
The Pelican reached the jungle floor.
"GO! GO! GO!!" Shouted the Sergeant, as the Marines piled out.
They expanded on to the ground and kept an eye out.
The Sergeant switched off his audio player and signalled to Smith in the Pelican.
The Pelican took off through the hole in the canopy it came in through, causing the trees to sway and billow angrily, before it finally shot off.
"Right, stay vigilante." Said the Sergeant, "Let's move on to this weapons cache."
The Marines trekked through the vegetation, alert, staying under cover of plants.
Sol Core still did jungle combat training, though it was rare nowadays for a Marine to get the chance to fight Covenant in the field at all, let alone in a dense jungle, the Covenant seemed to prefer to just kill them all from the safety of their warships.
It was hot and steamy, and it was difficult to make out distant objects because of the humid mist. Though this jungle wasn't as dense as some of the other's the Sergeant had been through in his time.
And there was a very synthetic feel to this jungle too, in fact the Sergeant almost laughed when he saw in certain places there were actually electric lights sticking out from the ground, it was as if the jungle were some very ambitious garden.
The Sergeant and his team jogged for a few minutes, crossing over a huge, rotted log that lay over a slope a few metres below, the tree's great roots hung in the air as if they were clawing at the sky.
It was halfway across this log when the Sergeant spotted the outline of a Shade Covenant gun turret on an earthy ridge overlooking them.
The Sergeant made a jerking hand signal and the Marines leapt off the log onto the slope a few meters below, landing awkwardly, some even tumbled.
Now under the cover of the huge log, the Sergeant peered cautiously up from under the log at the turret.
It seemed to be without an operator.
He slowly climbed back up the slope, his Marines following.
When they reached the top they found that the Shade turret really was unmanned.
They surveyed the surrounding area. Cutting through the mist they could see a pair of strong lights on a structure wall, in between them was a gaping entrance to what was undoubtedly the weapons cache. The area in front was derelict of Covenant, though there were also a few Covenant crates as well as other Shade turrets.
"There's the structure" Said Kennedy.
"Looks like the Covenant set up fortifications already, so where are they?" Asked Mendoza.
"You don't think the Captain and 2nd squad got here and cleared them out already do you?" Offered Jenkins.
"Then where are the bodies?" Said the Sergeant.
"Something's wrong here, the Covenant've never done anything like this before, something's definitely odd." Said Bisenti, glancing around.
"At least we haven't had to fight our way up," Said the Sergeant briskly, "just keep your heads down and let's get in there. Be ready for anything. OK, MOVE!!"
The Squad advanced with their guns trained on the entrance of the structure.
Jenkins lagged slightly.
"Stay close Jenkins!" Called the Sergeant.
They reached it, so far everything seemed clear, but the Sergeant knew it was when things seemed safe that they were most dangerous.
The Marines scanned the inside of the structure ahead.
"Mendoza! Move it up!" Ordered the Sergeant, beckoning him into the structure.
Mendoza advanced, staying low, with his assault rifle poised.
The Sergeant addressed Kennedy.
"Wait here for the Captain and his squad, then get your ass inside."
"Sir!" Acknowledged Kennedy.
The Sergeant nodded.
"OK LET'S MOVE!!" He barked.
The Marines advanced into the structure.
It was huge and dim inside, with sheer, solid grey metal walls.
There was no movement inside, though there were a few more Covenant crates.
In the center of the room was some kind of platform raised from the floor, it was transparent in the center, made of glass or another clear material.
The Marines came forward to stand on the platform, looking down through the see-through panel below their feet.
It was just a black abyss, they couldn't see anything at the bottom.
Mendoza noticed a holographic control panel.
"Hey, check it out!" He indicated, reaching out to touch it.
The Sergeant wasn't sure what Mendoza did, and neither did it seem, did Mendoza.
However when he did touch the panel the whole platform they stood on shook, chimed, and descended.
The Marines looked at each other in fear for a moment, for they were descending quickly into the bowels of the structure, possibly right into a group of Covenant.
It seemed the platform was a lift, operated using anti gravity in some way.
The Sergeant made a silent hand signal and the Marines all trained their guns in opposite directions, prepared to engage.
Within moments they descended into a huge chamber, like the one they'd been in from above.
It too was derelict, but there were a lot more Covenant crates, and the Sergeant even spotted two activated Covenant shield projectors that the aliens used as cover. The Covenant were definitely close.
The lift hit the floor with a thud and the Marines secured the chamber, ensuring it was secure.
The Sergeant was beginning to feel uneasy, there was plenty of evidence of Covenant, so where were they?
The Marines cautiously continued through a peculiarly shaped automatic door.
The three sections of the door hissed and retracted, and the Marines advanced into a new room. It too had a high ceiling, and it's scale made the Sergeant think of great hallways in giant religious cathedrals that could be found on Earth. It had wall bracings that went up along the inward-sloping walls towards the top. The room was less dim than the one before (as it had more lights), though the walls were still cold, sterile and solid, and it was all in a very hard-angled design.
"COMPANY!" cried Jenkins.
The Sergeant looked down and realised they were stood on a platform above the floor, on the ground level below and in front of them were several Covenant Jackals and Grunts.
The Marines took cover behind Covenant crates and a new pair of shield projectors.
The creatures below fired up at them, but the Sergeant could tell from the way that they kept glancing all around them that he and his squad were not their only worry. What else it was they were keeping an eye out for he didn't care.
Drawing a grenade, he pulled the latch and accurately hurled it down at the creatures.
The Covenant tried to leap out of their cover to get away from the deadly blast, some managed, others were less fortunate. However the Marines proceeded to pick off the ones who had leapt from their hiding places.
The Marines reloaded and emerged from their cover.
"They didn't give us half as much hell as they normally do, Sarge. What's goin' on?" asked Mendoza.
"How the hell I'm I supposed to know, y'idiot!" Snapped the Sergeant "Whatever's going on here it's giving us the advantage, something we haven't had in a long time, let'skeep it movin'."
The Marines surveyed ahead, they were on a raised platform, a few metres from the floor below, with no obvious route down, there was another raised platform above the ground ahead of them, but it was about ten metres ahead, with nothing to walk across to get to it. Beyond it at the end of the chamber was another door, but there didn't seem to be a way to get over to the platform in front of them, let alone the door beyond it.
"Look another, holographic panel" Said Jenkins, "Hey, Mendoza, what did you press last time?"
Mendoza stepped forward and touched one of the symbols on the blue, holographic control panel.
There came a strange sound when he pressed it, it reminded the Sergeant of the sound superconductors made when generating a particle field (particle fields were recently being used on the newer obstacle training courses in the Sol Core training camps with large drops, to cushion falls.)
Before them there formed a bridge of blue, pulsing white and electric-blue light, the bridge stretched from their platform to the one that lay ten meters ahead.
A way forward!
The Marines looked at the bridge uncertainly.
Then Kennedy stepped straight on to the bridge.
"It's OK!" He reassured, "The Chief activated a giant one of these light bridges back when I was with him rescuing the rest of the survivors, he drove a Warthog over it, they're safe!"
The Sergeant stepped forward and tested the bridge with his foot, careful not to put all of his weight on it.
From where his foot touched it, ripples of light extended, but his foot was resisted by the field, it seemed it could hold his weight. The Sergeant stepped forward completely. It held him, though it felt odd beneath his feet, like an incredibly taut trampoline, yet it sounded like a solid surface underneath his feet.
Convinced, the rest of the squad came forward onto the bridge. They walked across it to the next platform, where there was a second holographic panel.
Mendoza activated the second bridge, and they were just about to walk on when the Sergeant's comm. crackled on.
"Sir? Do you read me?" It was Bisenti, though his signal was quite faint, probably because of the amount of earth and rock between him and the Sarge.
"Bisenti? Is the Captain there?" Asked the Sergeant.
"Huh? Speak up Sir, I can hardly hear you!" Came Bisenti.
"IS KEYES THERE!" Barked the Sergeant.
"Yessir! He's here!" Replied Bisenti, "Me and the Captain are gonna be headin' down shortly. Second squad's gonna stay up here and guard."
"Understood, Bisenti, by the way, have you seen any Covenant?"
"No, Sir, but I took the liberty of placing the lotus mines around the perimeter of this hill, just encase the guys who set up these turrets return."
"Do you have any more?" The Sergeant asked.
"Uh... no, Sir. Why?"
"Cause there are Covenant down here, if second squad are busy aiming outwards, away from the structure, expecting the Covenant to be coming from outside, then should the Covenant that are down here come out of the structure they're gonna catch second squad's backs undefended."
"Well, I could always take one of the mines and put it in the structure entrance, ready just encase any Covenant do come out from down there. They've been set to remote detonation, not proximity, so you'll be safe when you come out."
"You do that." Said the Sergeant.
"So there are Covenant down there." Said Bisenti.
"Yes, Bisenti, you might want to take an extra soldier or two from second squad down with you, encase you meet anything on your way through here. You shouldn't do, because we'll have cleared everywhere you'll come through, but just encase."
"Yes Sir!"
The Sergeant switched off his comm and they proceeded.

As they walked along the bridge to the other side of the giant hallway Kennedy asked,
"What is it that we're actually looking for down here?"
Mendoza rolled his eyes,
"Well it's a weapons cache, so I don't think we're looking for groceries!"
"Ah, shove it smart ass! You know what I mean! What KIND of weapons?"
"Hopefully something we can use against the Covenant, now cut the chatter before I pull your tongues out!" Snapped the Sergeant.
They reached the door at the end of the chamber.
The Sergeant grunted,
"Kennedy, check it out!"
Kennedy stepped forward and the door hissed open.
Staying low, he entered the next chamber.
The Marines watched Kennedy peer down from the platform he stood on down to the floor in the next chamber, they themselves couldn't see it from where they stood. Kennedy beckoned them forward with a silent hand signal, a pushing movement with the hand in a fist, followed by the hand opened and vertical, it meant to proceed with caution, and that there were enemies in the next room who were unaware.
The Marines crept in quietly.
This next chamber was square in shape, the ceiling was far lower than in the previous one, probably only a couple of metres from their heads.
They were stood on a landing that followed along all four walls of the chamber. From the center of each landing on each wall extended a ledge, each one ended a few meters from the center of the room, leaving a gaping space in the middle of the landing.
The Sergeant noticed a thin, green fluid dripping from the ceiling. Looking up, the Sergeant saw a square cavity in the ceiling, within it was a giant display case / detainment cubicle of some description, from which the fluid was dripping from. It appeared that the space in the center of the room was where the case had originally been, but someone (perhaps a Covenant) had activated something that had retracted it upwards. Whatever had been in the case the Covenant had clearly been taken by the Covenant already, as there was nothing there.
"Pssst!" Hissed Mendoza, jerking his head down to the floor below the landing.
The Sergeant looked down to the ground below, more Covenant, several Jackals and a few Grunts in a corner, they were huddled together, glancing around nervously. It seemed like none of them wished to venture away from the protection of the group. They hadn't noticed them yet.
The Sergeant made a hand signal to Mendoza.
Mendoza nodded, drew a grenade, and pulled the latch.
The Covenant heard the sound of the latch being pulled and jerked to look up at them. However Mendoza had already hurled the grenade among them. It landed with a 'clink' and before the Covenant had realised what it was, they were blown outwards in an eruption of flame and blood.
"This isn't right" Said Mendoza uneasily, "The Covenant have never been this easy to beat, algo esta passando!"
"Almenos las cosas se nos facilitan, Mendoza!" said Jenkins.
Mendoza smiled, "Si. Almenos." He agreed.
"Pardon me for interrupting 'amigos'" cut in the Sergeant, slightly irritated, "But let's keep it moving!"
The Marines walked along the landing along the perimeters of the chamber to the left wall of the chamber, where there was a door.
Again, Kennedy went first, however this time he signalled, a simple beckon with an open hand, meaning the room was clear.
The room beyond the door was clear, it was similar to the hall they'd been in before the previous chamber, it had the same high ceiling and structure, however it was nowhere near as long.
On the bottom floor below the landing in front of them the Sergeant noticed a pair of abandoned Shade Turrets.
The landing they stood on led both left and right, and on the left and right ends of the small hall were two doors on the landings.
"Men, let's not split up, we'll explore the right door first, then the left."
The Marines nodded.
SHHHHHHHICK!
The Marines swung around with their guns levelled at the source of the hiss.
It was the door they'd just come out of.
Standing in the entrance was Bisenti, who instantly put up his hands at seeing several rifles aimed at him.
"I surrender!" He joked, "Hey guys you did a good job clearing this place, there are a hell of a lot of Covenant corpses in the chamber behind us!"
"Hmmm..." Grunted the Sergeant, lowering his rifle, "Where's the Captain?"
"I'm here Sergeant" Came Keyes' voice. Bisenti moved into the chamber to reveal Keyes behind him, followed by a pair of Marines wearing bandanas across their heads.
The Marines proceeded to the door on the right end of the sterile, hall-like chamber.
The next room was identical in design to the one that had had the retracted display case / detainment cubicle , however this display case / detainment cubicle wasn't retracted, it remained on the ground.
The lower glass panels of this cubicle were smashed, the shards coated in the green fluid. From where it was the Sergeant could appreciate how big it was, spanning from the bottom floor of the chamber, up to the ceiling, and cutting through the platform landings the Marines stood on. The room itself was in a bad state in comparison to the other similar chamber.
The Marines looked down to see something that chilled them- Covenant corpses, ones that they weren't responsible for.
Something was definitely wrong here.

The Marines silently and carefully searched the landing they stood on for a way down to the floor metres below that didn't involve having to jump down.
In one corner of the landing along the wall it seemed there had been some powerful explosion that had damaged the landing, however the rubble and broken platform that remained provided the perfect way to climb down.
The company of 6 Marines, Sergeant and Captain began to climb their way down to the bottom floor using the rubble and broken landing, trying to avoid the flames that licked up occasionally from somewhere beneath the pile.
Mendoza was the first down, he began to check out the scene.
"This looks pretty grim, Sir! They're all dead, and pretty messed up to!"
And it was grim, there were plasma burn marks all over the walls, blackened patches of floor from explosions, shards of glass from the cubicle everywhere (which were dripping with the thin, green fluid) and Covenant corpses strewn along the floor.
Bisenti was the second to get down, and he came forward and examined what looked like an Elite, but he could only tell from the size of the body and the blue, iridescent chrome armour, it looked like it had been run over by a tank.
"Ugrh, guys check it out!" He called, indicating the body.
Jenkins scrambled down from the rubble and came to look at the Elite corpse too,
"This looks pretty recent, but who... or what did it?" He said, "It's not just been killed, it's been mangled."
The Sergeant had now climbed down and came to inspect the corpse, Captain Keyes was being helped down the rubble by the two Marines with Bandanas.
Mendoza shook his head uncertainly,
"Look at it, it's been really badly messed up, something has killed this guy very nasty-like. In fact, it looks like it's been half eaten..."
The group looked at each other in silence.
"...Which is weird right?" Mendoza continued uncertainly, "I mean... look at it!"
Mendoza gave the messy corpse a nudge with his boot,
"Something... scrambled the insides... "
The Sergeant nodded at some burnt pockmarks in the Elites chromed chest plate,
"What's that?" He asked, "Plasma scoring?"
It was strange, those characteristic marks could have only been made by Covenant weapons.
Mendoza gazed at the scored marks,
"Yeah... I dunno. Maybe there was an accident, y'know, friendly fire or something?"
Keyes had managed at last to get down from the landing, he strode forward with the other two Marines.
"What do we have Sergeant?" He asked.
"Looks like a Covenant patrol" replied the Sergeant, "Bad-ass Elite units, all KIA."
Keyes gave a brief look at the mangled Elite corpse,
"Real pretty. Friend of yours?" He asked Mendoza.
"Nah, we just met." Said Mendoza, glancing down at the body.
The group was silent for a moment.
The Sergeant spoke up,
"Well there's nothing here, let's go check out that other door on the opposite side of the previous chamber!"
The Marines acknowledged and began scrambling back up the pile of rubble and broken landing they'd just climbed down from.
Captain Keyes sighed as Kennedy helped him up,
"I'm getting too old for this..."

The group re-entered the hall-like chamber they'd been in before the one where they'd found the Elite's corpse, they followed the landing to the other side of the hall, and entered the door there.
This next chamber was very broad and wide, and split off in two directions.
"Let's take the right." Grunted the Sergeant.
Upon taking the right the Marines discovered a ramp that led down a narrow corridor that had been concealed from their view by a wall from where they had entered. At the top of the ramp above their heads there flashed a red emergency light,
"Hmmm, I don't care if this is place was made by aliens, a flashing red light is a universal symbol for bad things!" Said Mendoza.
The Marines proceeded down the ramp, upon getting to the bottom they saw a second ramp leading back up to the left side of the chamber they'd been in above them, it wouldn't have mattered if they'd gone left or right, they still would have found a ramp down to the spot they were now.
To the left of the group, at the bottom of the ramp, was a door.
Mendoza walked up to it, but the door did not open.
"It's locked." He said stupidly.
"The Covenant are trying to keep us out, there must be something important in there, we've got to get in!" Said Jenkins.
"Right." Approved Captain Keyes, "Let's get this door open!"
"I'll try Sir," Said Mendoza, not sounding hopeful, "But it looks like these Covenant worked pretty hard to lock it down."
"Just do it, son." Ordered Keyes firmly.
"Yes, Sir." Mendoza replied.
He drew out the only piece of security door bypass equipment that they had available, an MF scrambler, a simple device that was designed to open electromagnet-operated doors, whether it worked or not would depend on if the door was actually magnet operated.
Mendoza stuck the device to the door and tapped a few buttons, not looking optimistic.
To his surprise however, the door happily slid open.
Mendoza drew his gun and waved the squad forward.
Bisenti stepped forward to take the point, followed by Jenkins, and then the rest of the squad.
They entered with their heads down low and guns sweeping the chamber.
It was empty.
It was a rectangular chamber, with six doors, the one they'd come through, the one on the opposite end of the room, and along the two longer walls were a pair of doors opposite to each other.
The company came to a stop close to the nearest door on the left side of the chamber to the one they'd just come through.
They continued to monitor the chamber with there guns for a few moments.
It was quiet in the chamber, the others had been quiet, but this one had a quiet in the sense that it felt as if there was actually a presence in the chamber being quiet instead of pure quiet itself.
"I got a bad feeling about this..." Said Bisenti as he gazed about uncomfortably.
"Boy you always got a bad feelin' about somethin'." Shot the Sergeant.
At that moment the Sergeant's comm. crackled nosily, cutting through the silence like a jagged knife.
"Captain, Sarge... can you hear me?!"
It was Corporal Patterson.
"What's going on, soldier?" Asked Keyes in concern.
"We've got contacts../*//-//** lots of 'em!..//-**_/// but they're not covenant!" The Corporal's fearful voice was washed with waves of hissing with static,
"...they're just tearing through us... what the! ..//**-_///- ooooohhh...nooooo!!"
The Corporal's desperate, painful cry was cut short.
The Sergeant shouted into the mouthpiece on his ear-mounted comm.
"Corporal! Do you copy!?! OVER!!"
No response.
The Sergeant's nostrils flared angrily, he turned to Mendoza,
"Mendoza, get your ass up to second squad's position and find out what the HELL is goin' on!!"
"But, Si-" Protested Mendoza.
The Sergeant cut him off angrily,
"I don't have time for your lip soldier!! I gave you an order!"
"SARGE!!" shot Mendoza with a grinding urgency, "...listen."
The whole squad was deadly silent.
They could hear it- a squelching, hissing, crawling sound.
It sounded like it was coming from all directions, getting more intense and furious.
"What is THAT?" Asked one of the Marines wearing bandanas, jerking his head around.
"WHERE'S THAT COMIN' FROM MENDOSA!?!" Grated the Sergeant.
"Everywhere..." Said Mendoza, confused, "I don't-THERE!! MIRA!!!"
Exclaimed Mendoza, pointing at the door nearest to them, it was being bashed by something on the other side, some huge mass of something that was smashing against the door with evil intent.
WHAM!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!!
WHAM!!!!!
It wanted to get to them.
The door buckled forward under the intensifying impacts until it burst forward, and a flood of horrible little green creatures poured through it.
They were horrible, squid-like creatures, no bigger than footballs, scooting quickly along the floor on a mass of little tentacles with frightening speed. They were simply bulbous, tuba like life forms, no eyes, heads or anything discernable, just the irregularly shaped bulbous body with a mass of tentacles below them and three sensory stalks protruding from the front. They pulsed a sickly green.
"URGH!! ARGHHH!!! GET IT OFF!!" Cried Kennedy through pain-gritted teeth, one of the little monsters had latched itself to his chest with horrifying zeal, and he was thrashing in pain on the floor.
"HOLD STILL! HOLD STILL!!" Shouted Bisenti as he tried to wrench the creature off of the struggling Marine, only to have the creature turn it's attention on him instead wrapping it's tentacles feverishly around Bisenti's arms and latching on to him.
The creatures flooded all around the squad,
"Sergeant, we're surrounded!" Exclaimed Keyes.
The Marines fired off bursts of bullets at the monsters as they scurried and hopped up at them, trying to hold them off.
The Captain drew a pistol and started firing it off spontaneously at the scurrying creatures.
"GODDAMMIT JENKINS!! FIRE YOUR WEAPON!!" Bellowed the Sergeant furiously.
Jenkins hesitated, his face stricken with horror and fear.
"THERE ARE TOO MANY SARGE!!" He cried desperately.
"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT MARINE!!!" Roared the Sergeant, firing rifle bursts at the creatures, to little effect.
"OH THIS IS LOCO!!!" Cried Mendoza. One of the bandana-sporting Marines began to back away from the advancing mass of scurrying tentacles and bulbous bodies, before making a desperate sprint for the door.
"GET BACK HERE MARINE!! THAT'S AN ORDER!!" Yelled Keyes after the fleeing soldier.
Their bullets were to little avail, there were too many of the creatures, they jumped on to the Marines and latched themselves to them.
The Sergeant saw Jenkins struggle and fall to the ground as one of the creatures leapt up and latched itself to his face.
"JENKINS!!" Exclaimed the Sergeant.
However the Sergeant was unable to help Jenkins as he struggled on the floor under a mass of the creatures, as he was being teared at himself.
He roared in fury as he tried to smash the bulbous little creatures with his fists and rifle as they scurried all over him, but more continued to come.
He screamed in scraping agony as the creatures' tentacles burrowed furiously into his flesh from a hundred different places.
He fell to the floor with agonised thrashes as the creatures tore into him ravenously without relent. It was the most intensely painful, utterly undignified way to die.
The Sergeant's last thought before he fell to the floor was of the Master Chief, hoping desperately that the great supersoldier would appear and save him from certain death once more.
But no supersoldier came.

The Sergeant did not die dramatically, nor did his life flash before his eyes, nor did he see a light at the end of a tunnel.
He merely thrashed in mounting agony as every part of his skin was torn at fiercely and horribly. Until one of the little creatures found the right spot on his back, and plunged it's tentacles into his skin and wormed them around his spine. The Sergeant threw back with a spasm of
screaming agony, until-
SHHHHHHHLIRCK!!!!!
The Sergeant's body abruptly stopped screaming and thrashing and went limp as the creature snapped his spine and wrenched itself into his chest. And in doing so severing the neck of it's host, leaving the head to hang at an angle, and so finally ending the suffering of Sergeant Benjamin S. Johnson.

God rest his soul.

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